Reborn
by CeeCee828
Summary: "She lifted the hand holding the strand of hair, the last piece of the potion needed, into the air and yelled, 'The Dark Lord will rise again'" Sequel to "Change" but can be read separately, full summary inside. Regulus/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Hello there! This is the much anticipated sequel to my story _Change _but probably could be read without having read _Change_. I can't promise regular updates, but I hope to try to update once a week – once every two weeks at least.**

**Summary: For the first time in her life after she killed Voldemort, Nicole Potter plans on living a calm, normal life with her family and friends. She should've known that wasn't going to happen. When a mass breakout of Death Eaters from Azkaban occurs and yet another wizarding war looms in the future, Nicole knows she's going to get drug into it again. But she didn't think it was possible for her to get drunk in this deep, or that Tom Riddle could, quite possibly, once again walk the earth.  
**

**Just a quick heads up – the name is liable to change later into the story, I just couldn't think of anything at the moment. **

Chapter 1

_Saturday, February seventh, 1998_

Chilly wind whipped my hair across my face, but I didn't bother to move it. I stared at the tall building looming over me, rooted to the spot for a few seconds. I still wasn't sure I wanted to do this, but what did I have to loose, really? I needed to get the story out there, James and Lily and countless others agreed. Scarlet had recommended which Muggle publisher to go to (she had even talked her publisher, the best and most expensive one into meeting me), and that's where I was now – standing, dressed in awkward Muggle clothing that Scarlet had insisted looked great outside a very modern looking building in downtown London.

How had I been forced into this? I still didn't understand how it had all happened. I guess it all started when I agreed to marry Regulus...

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Saturday, August ninth, 1997_

"James' isn't going to like this."

"Since when do you call him James? And since when do you care?"

"Force of habit. And I _don't_ care." Regulus laughed, resting his chin on the top of my head and intertwining our fingers.

Of course I had told him that I'd marry him. The problem was, I was, technically, only fifteen. Sure, I had lived over three extra years back in the 70s, had finished my schooling at Hogwarts and lived through more than nearly everybody alive now (excluding Dumbledore and a few others, of course), but that didn't make me old enough to get married.

"How are we going to let them know that you're here?" I asked after a moment of silence.

"I don't know, babe."

"How often do you get a chance like this?" When Regulus stared at me, confused, I smiled and elaborated, "Everybody thinks you died 17 years ago, and now you're 18 and _very_ alive. Plus, I was best friends with Fred and George for a reason."

"Nicole?"

We turned our heads to the door quickly, where James' – _Dad's_ – voice had come from. He knocked lightly.

"Nicki, you awake?"

"Yeah, I'm awake," I called back quietly.

"You're mother's making breakfast. Are you hungry?"

"I'll be down in a minute," I called, smiling mischievously at Regulus, taking the ring off and putting it into his hand. He frowned and opened his mouth to ask what I was doing, but I said, "How would I explain wearing an engagement ring to them?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I tried to look as depressed as possible as I slouched into the dining room next to Harry. He, James, and Lily – _Dad and Mom_ – all became silent as I entered the room.

"How're you doing, Nick?" James asked after a moment of silent. I shrugged mutely.

"Better."

"Sirius and Scarlet are coming over for dinner," Lily said. "And so are Frank and Alice, Mary and Kingsley, Remus and Tonks, the Weasleys, Severus, Draco, Astoria, and Dean." I wondered why so many people were coming over, but that wasn't what I focused on.

Instead, I racked my brain for any memories. Frank and Alice I knew were married with three kids, Mary and Kingsley were married with two kids – did I mention that Kingsley was Minister? It must have slipped my mind – Remus and Tonks had Teddy on the way, but none of the kids names were Scarlet. _Who was she?_

Suddenly, it came to me, and I realized that Scarlet Parker was the Muggle girl who Sirius had dated for six years and had been married to four years previously. They had two children – Leah, who was three years old, and Parker, who was only six months. Scarlet was a Muggle lawyer and had published several books in the wizarding world – a few about her life as a Muggle in our world, a few others that were made up romances that were very popular with teenagers and young adults – as well as the Muggle world – mostly romance novels (with no magic in them of course).

"Oh," I replied simply. "That's great." I paused and then asked, "Why are they coming over?" Lily shrugged.

"No reason," she said, although I was sure there was a reason – probably because they knew that the real me had come back and wanted to break it to all the kids who, I knew, didn't know.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and I had to cover my mouth to keep from letting them see my smile. James got up to get the door, and I could hear his intake of breath from the dining room before he sputtered out,

"W-Who are you?"

"You know who I am, James," Regulus's voice replied, and I couldn't help but notice the laughter in his voice, something only somebody that knew him as well as I did could notice. "Gosh, my brother is basically _your_ brother and you don't even know who I am?" I noticed Lily's eyebrows furrow before she got up and basically ran into the Entrance Hall, followed by Harry after a moment. I heard their footsteps stop suddenly when they noticed Regulus.

"R-Regulus?" Lily muttered.

"That's my name, don't wear it out," Regulus said. "Say, is Nicole here? I fancy a word with her if you don't mind." When they didn't say anything, I heard him say, attempting (and failing) to sound confused, "Why are you staring at me as though I'm a ghost?" I snorted and passed it off as a sneeze.

"Sirius! That's not even funny!" Lily screeched suddenly. I heard a _thump! _and Regulus voice shout,

"Ouch! Lily! That hurt!"

"It was supposed to, you idiot!" Lily yelled. "Coming here, pretending to be your brother when you _know _Nicole was going to take the news harder than even _you _took it! I can't _believe _Scarlet let you even consider this! And – !" There were more _thumps _followed by more grunts of pain. "You – are – such – a – prat – Sirius – Orion – Black!"

"Hey! Lily, stop!" James said suddenly. I quickly ran out into the Entrance Hall to see James with his arms wrapped around Lily's waist, restraining her, while she flung a heavy textbook toward Regulus, who had stepped back out of her reach. Harry stood to the side, watching the scene before him, looking highly confused.

"Lily! Stop! You know as well as I that Sirius would never do this, not to himself, not to Nicole, not to anybody! You know as well as I just how hard he took Regulus' death!" After a moment of more struggling, Lily finally relaxed, but only slightly.

"Who are you then?"

"Regulus Arcturus Black."

"Nice try," James said, his voice full of malice. "We know that Regulus Black is dead."

"Oh, but that's what _you _think," I said suddenly. They all spun toward me, noticing me for the first time. "Ever think that Regulus just went forward in time like you had when that time-sand got dumped into that potion?" Lily, James, and Harry stared at me for a moment before James slowly asked,

"Did he?"

"You remember when I told you that I had taken half of the vial of time sand?" When they nodded, I couldn't help but notice Harry looking more confused than ever, standing between Regulus, James, and Lily and I. I almost laughed at his face, but held it in. "Well, I told you I took it 'just in case' but I really took it to give to Regulus."

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Harry asked.

"Language, Harry," Lily reprimanded, but nobody answered Harry.

"So this is really Regulus?" James asked, turning to look at Regulus. When I nodded, Lily turned to Regulus, her eyes wide and horror-struck.

"Oh Merlin!" she exclaimed. "Regulus, I'm _so _sorry that I beat you with that book!"

"Is anybody going to tell me what's going on?" Harry asked loudly. We all turned to him and James said,

"Well, Harry, it's a long story that we are saving for dinner tonight." Harry huffed and crossed his arms childishly, causing me to laugh lightly at him.

"How are we going to break this to Sirius?" Regulus asked suddenly. James turned to him, smirking.

"I have an idea."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Hey Sirius!"

"Hey Nicole! It's great to see the Nicki that we all knew again!" Sirius scooped me into a tight hug while a very pretty girl with long, dark brown hair – Sirius' wife, Scarlet –walked over to Lily, holding a baby and the hand of a very small girl. "How're you doing?" Sirius asked, holding me out at arms length.

"Great!" I exclaimed happily. "Honestly, I don't think I've ever been better," I said when he gave me a skeptical look. He sighed and hugged me briefly again before he went to talk to Lily and James. I followed him inside and said to James,

"I'll be right back, I'm going to get something upstairs." James winked at me and nodded, acting as though he could care less if I was going upstairs or not.

I ran up the stairs two at a time and poked my head into my room, where Regulus was sitting on my bed reading a book – or, perhaps, _pretending _to read a book. "Hey," I said to him. "You coming?" He jumped up and followed me out of the room instantly.

"Scarlet is Sirius's wife," I explained to him as we headed down the hall. "She's a Muggle law enforcer – kind of like the wizengamot – it's called a lawyer. And she has several published books in both the wizarding and Muggle world. They have two kids – Leah is three and Parker is six months."

"Got it," Regulus said, nodding. I stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to face him.

"Ready?" Regulus sighed.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"I wonder what's taking Nick so long," I heard James say as he walked by the bottom of the stairs, winking at us as he pretended to look up the staircase for us. "She said she'd be right back." He walked back over to the table. "It's strange – she usually doesn't make those types of things up."

I smiled reassuringly at Regulus as I went around the corner and leaned against the wall, bringing one foot up against it slightly. Regulus had followed me quietly and I put my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me, smiling at him as he put his hands on either side of my shoulders just as we had planned.

"I'll go check," Lily offered. I heard her light footsteps coming our way, but only for a second before Sirius quickly said,

"Now, now, my fair lady, let me do this." Now I heard his heavier footsteps on the stairs, and I counted each one. One, two, three...

When I had counted until fourteen, Regulus leaned closer to me and put his lips on mine. I almost started laughing, but kept my laughter in as I ran my fingers through his hair, trying dearly to keep my eyes off of Sirius – I had to close my eyes to do so.

Suddenly, I felt Regulus yank away from me. I opened my eyes to see Sirius with him pinned against the opposite wall, his wand against his neck. Regulus' face was red – whether from repressed laughter or from shock, I still, to this day, don't know.

"Who the hell are you, you bastard?" Sirius snarled. _"Who the hell are you?"_

"Sirius!" I exclaimed. "Chill out!" Sirius turned on me, his wand still on Regulus.

"Do you just go around snogging every guy who looks slightly like Regulus now? He's _dead_, Nick, _get __over it_!"

"Obviously," I said calmly, "you still haven't gotten over it, or you wouldn't be reacting like this."

"I got over it before you were even born," Sirius sneered quietly before turning back to Regulus, who was eying the wand that was now pointed between his eyes and smoking slightly fearfully.

"Sirius! Stop it!" I exclaimed. I heard several pairs of footsteps on the stairs but didn't look to see who it was, at least until I heard several people exclaim several things at the same time.

"Sirius!" Scarlet yelled.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lily asked.

"Padfoot!" James exclaimed.

"Put your wand down, you're going to hurt somebody!" Remus called.

Sirius didn't reply to any of them. Finally, after a moment more of silence, I walked up to him and put my hand on his outstretched wand, pushing it down lightly.

"Sirius, you wouldn't want to curse your brother, would you?" Lily said softly.

"He's – not – my – brother! Regulus is _dead! _He died seventeen years ago."

"Remember the time sand?" I blurted. Sirius turned toward me slowly. "How I'd said that I'd taken some of it _just in case? _Well, I actually gave it to Regulus to take." I saw something close to understanding how in Sirius' face for a moment before it was gone again and he shook his head, still disbelieving. "After I came back here, a week after the final battle, he took a potion with the time sand in it and came here."

Sirius stared at Regulus, who smiled a small, crooked smile at him, as if daring to believe that Sirius wasn't going to curse him.

Then, quite suddenly, Sirius pulled Regulus into a tight hug, nearly chocking him. I let out a sigh of relief – he was _not _supposed to react like that, although James had warned us that he might. We had all figured, however, that he would be ecstatic and run to give Regulus a hug.

"What's everybody doing?" Harry called from downstairs, sounding confused. "The Shacklebolts are here! Oh, and here comes the Longbottoms and Dean and Astoria!" Sirius slowly let go of a chocking Regulus and turned back to us.

"We better go back downstairs," he said before he led the way down the stairs.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Saturday, February seventh, 1998_

The publishing company's building looked even more foreboding as the sun drifted behind a large, dark cloud. A storm was coming. A big one. I could feel it in the air, I could taste it in every breath I took. Was this such a good idea? I wondered as I thought back to why, exactly, I was publishing this.

Sirius hadn't been the only one to not believe that it was Regulus. Both Mary and Frank had threatened to curse him if he didn't reveal his true identity (with their spouses, Kingsley and Alice, trying to get them to chill out on the side). Molly and Arthur had merely been thunderstruck but had believed us as soon as we had explained it. The children, Bill and younger, stood to the side, confused, although I thought that Bill and Charlie looked as though they might understand.

Severus was the only one to come in and greet Regulus like the old friend that he was – his way of greeting him had been patting him on the shoulder.

When everybody had finally arrived and we were all crowded around a long picnic table outside (all thirty-four, if I counted correctly, of us), we knew we had to break it to everybody who didn't know. Lily started, and we slowly got them all the full story.

It had been little thirteen-year-old Daniela Longbottom who had asked the question – how are we going to get this out to the rest of the wizarding world? We can't keep it a secret forever. And it was Scarlet who had suggested it – writing a book. I wasn't for it – me? An _author_? Who'd ever heard of such a thing? – at least, at first. It was Regulus, the next afternoon while he and James were reading the paper and I happened to walk by, that convinced me to do it. And he wasn't even trying to...

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Saturday, August ninth, 1997_

I had told Harry that I would play a one-on-one Quidditch game with him for who would have to clean the broom closet when I walked by the drawing room and saw Regulus, James, and Lily in it alone. James was reading the paper, Lily was reading a book, but Regulus was staring blankly at the newspaper in front of him.

"Mr. Potter – "

"Call me James please, Regulus, I feel old when you call me Mr. Potter," James said without even looking up from his paper. I noticed Regulus gulp and wondered what he was doing.

" – James," he corrected himself. "I would like to ask you something – something rather important." James folded his paper up and set it in his lap and Lily looked over her book to listen in. "I – I'd like to ask for permission to marry your daughter."

I had to bite my bottom lip to keep from gasping – so _that's _why he wouldn't give me the ring back when I asked the night before!

"You – you _what_?"

"I want to marry your daughter."

"She's only fifteen, Regulus, surely you know – ?"

"Yes, I know that," Regulus interrupted. "But she's almost sixteen and she lived an extra three years in our time. Surely that counts for something?"

"Yes, I guess, but still – "

"Oh, James, just let the girl get married," Lily said suddenly. "They're obviously in love. They're like we were when we first got together, only they've been together for a longer time than we were." I heard James sigh and say,

"Alright. But not until at least next summer, when she's sixteen. And she hast to agree, of course – "

"Oh, she already has, I've already asked her."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Saturday, February seventh, 1998_

That's how I was convinced to do this. I wanted the story out there so I wouldn't be marrying some guy that nobody knew, and for Regulus so he wouldn't be so out of the picture, and so those who had known him but thought that he was dead knew how and why he was suddenly alive again.

First, I had published it in the wizarding world. It was a big hit – at first, people thought that it was a joke, but slowly people realized it was true. I became a celebrity – from what I had done and from publishing a book. But my fame was short lived as people had other things to worry about.

I hadn't been forced to go back to Hogwarts (although on Hogsmeade weekends I would go down to see my friends and would sometimes sneak back in and join the next potions class just to annoy Sev) and the Underage-Wizard restriction had been taken off of me – I was a special case. Regulus and I had both landed positions in the Auror department of the Ministry, where Sirius was the head Auror with James a close second and Frank bringing up third.

And now, Scarlet had convinced me to publish it in the Muggle world under the alias N. Sawyer and to convince Muggles that it was fiction and not real.

Finally, I manged to enter the strange Muggle building to get this book published.

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: No reviews? _Really_? Where are all my reviewers? The more reviews I get, the more likely I am to update faster. So review! Now! That's an order! (Just kidding, I'm not _that _desperate for reviews.)**

**Just a warning – don't expect all updates to be this fast. It's still winter break and I have all day to sit around and write.**

Chapter 2

_That wasn't too bad_, I thought as I walked down the streets of London, looking for a dark alleyway to Disapparate down. Actually, it was quite similar to getting books published in the Wizarding world, except I had to be sure not to mention that it was all true.

The publisher had loved the book and told me that my writing was as good as Scarlet's – in reality, Scarlet had written most of the book for me but had told me to have my name on the cover anyway. I had tried to convince her otherwise, or to at least say that she co-wrote it or something, but she refused.

Finally, I found a deserted alleyway and darted down it, Apparating quickly home. The streets of Godric's Hollow seemed oddly eerie and silent. But it was nothing compared to our house.

Usually, one could hear talking and laughter, or at least the radio, from outside our house and see at least one person in the drawing room through the large front window – more often than not, that person was _not _actually a Potter, only a friend or, in Regulus's case, a fiancé. But today, no sound was coming out and all I could see through the window was the radio sitting on top of the coffee table, on but with the volume all the way down. The light was on, but it seemed that nobody was home.

_What the hell was going on?_

I walked quickly into the house, slamming the door behind me and calling,

"Anybody home?"

There was no response.

I checked the kitchen table for a note. When I saw none, I checked the dining room table, every table in both drawing rooms, and each bedroom. There was still nothing – no sign of a struggle or anything, except Harry's bed wasn't made, but what else was new?

Finally, I decided to check the office. I wasn't normally allowed in there – James didn't like us kids in his only personal space in the entire house – but I had to check.

At first glance, nothing seemed to be off – papers were piled on his desk, a fancy quill was sitting in a bottle of ink near a half-written paper probably for work, tons of pictures of Lily, himself, Harry, me, and others sat in frames, the people in them smiling at me, and a glass of water sat on a coaster.

But when I turned the lights on and looked closer, I saw that an unfamiliar, dark gray owl sat on the windowsill with a piece of parchment still tied to it's leg. It looked annoyed, as though it had been sitting there for a while. I knew that the parchment had been read – despite the fact that it looked official, it was crumpled up, as though it had been folded up in a rush.

Slowly, I untied the parchment from the owls leg. Once it was off, the owl took off out of the window instantly. I was honestly scared to open the letter – what did it say to make everybody rush out of here so fast? Regulus had been at work – had something happened to him? What about one of the Blacks? Longbottoms? Shacklebolts? Lupins? Weasleys? Severus, Draco, Astoria, or Dean?

I unfolded the letter slowly with trembling hands. Scrawled in small, neat handwriting that I recognized as Kingsley's were the words, "_Turn on the radio. Now_." I threw the parchment down, ran downstairs, and turned dial on the radio so it was blaring.

"This is Ted Tonks speaking, and I continue the same message since three o'clock this afternoon – " so an hour and a half ago " – to _all_ Ministry of Magic personnel – You are needed at the Ministry of Magic _immediately_."

"Why?" I asked the radio despite the fact that I knew Ted could not hear me – _what was going on?_ For as long as I could remember, this had _never _happened.

"This is, possibly, the largest crisis since Voldemort. I repeat – any and all Ministry of Magic workers need to report to the Ministry as soon as possible, especially Aurors – "

I couldn't take it – I Apparated instantly to the Blacks' house, but it was just as deserted as ours had been. So was Alice and Frank's house, Kingsley and Mary's house, Remus and Tonks' house, and the Burrow. Scarlet, Molly, Mary, and Remus weren't Ministry of Magic personnel, while the kids that weren't Hogwarts age yet should have been there as well – Scarlet wasn't even a witch.

As a last hope, I swung by Weasley Wizard Wheezes. However, Fred and George weren't there, and Diagon Alley was oddly deserted. Bill and Fleur weren't at Shell Cottage, either. Finally, I knew that I would just have to go to the Ministry of Magic to find out – I honestly didn't want to find out that way, but I knew that I would have to.

I Apparated straight to the Atrium, where I came out of one of the fireplaces like usual.

It was complete _chaos _in the Atrium_. _Witches and wizards of all ages milled around, most looking as if unsure of what to do. Several Magical Maintenance workers were running about, trying to calm everybody down – they were failing miserably, though. I stood completely still in the fireplace, both from shock and confusion. What was I supposed to do _now_?

"Potter! Hey, Potter!"

I turned to see, to my pleasure (note the sarcasm), Dolores Umbridge hurrying my way.

"What are you wearing Muggle clothing for?" she asked suddenly, sounding and looking confused, but when she remembered why she had come over here originally, she said quickly, and rather rudely, "Why aren't you down in the Auror Headquarters? They've been announcing_ over _and _over_ that _all_ Aurors need to go down there _immediately_." I wondered if she had been a Slytherin when she was at Hogwarts as I pushed my way quickly through the crowd toward the golden gates at the end of the Atrium so I could get to the elevators just beyond them.

Finally, I clambered onto one of the packed elevators and pressed the "two" button so I could get to the Auror Headquarters.

The second floor wasn't nearly as crowded as the Atrium, but tons and tons of memos were flying back and forth from the two corners ahead leading to the Auror Headquarters on the left and Wizengamot Administration Services on the right. I could hear urgent talking from the Auror Headquarters and walked quickly up to the corner, but stopped before I actually reached the round in the corner because I heard a worried voice that I recognized instantly.

"Nicole's still not here."

"She'll be fine, Regulus, she knows how to take care of herself," James replied, although I noticed that he sounded a bit worried himself.

"She should be back by now," Regulus replied.

Now I couldn't take it anymore – I _still _had no idea what was going on. I quickly walked around the corner and into the Headquarters. As soon as I threw the doors open, Regulus was pulling me into a tight hug.

"What's going on?" I asked, pushing him back lightly. "I got home and nobody's there, there's a strange owl in the office with a letter saying to turn on the radio, and all Ted says is that all Ministry of Magic workers need to report here immediately. I even checked to see if Scarlet or Remus or Mary or Molly or Fred and George or Bill and Fleur were home, or any kids, but nobody was."

"They were all at Hogwarts staying in the Room of Requirement with all of the kids there, like Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville – you get my point. It's the safest place," James said, coming up beside Regulus.

"Plus, Dumbledore said to have them go there," Regulus agreed.

"Why do they need to be in the safest place?"

"Because of the Death Eaters."

"What about them?" I asked.

"There was a mass breakout form Azkaban. _Twenty-three _Death Eaters escaped," James explained.

"_What_?" I exclaimed, shocked, my eyes widening. "How?"

"We haven't the faintest idea," Regulus said. "There are wizards there now looking over the place to see if they can figure out how they all got out and where they could possibly be hiding, but so far we've only received messages saying that it looks extremely normal and as though they were never even there." He grabbed a piece of paper from his desk. "Here's the list of the Death Eaters that escaped." I took it from him and read,

_Avery, Alecto Carrow, Amycus Carrow, Crabbe, Antonin Dolohov, Gibbon, Goyle, Jugson, Igor Karkaroff, Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Walden Macnair, Lucius Malfoy, Mulciber, Nott, Peter Pettigrew, Agustus Rookwood, Evan Rosier, Thorfinn Rowle, Selwynn, Travers, Wilkes, and Yaxley._

"Hey, Nicole!" Sirius called from his cubicle down the aisle. "Come here for a moment, would you?" I left James and Regulus and went up to him and Frank quickly.

"Hey, sorry I took so long, I – "

"Yeah, yeah, that doesn't matter," Sirius said, waving his hand impatiently. "I have a question for you. Do you still have that fake Dark Mark that Dumbledore put on you in 1979 or whenever that was?"

"Sure do," I replied. "Dumbledore has to remove it and he and I have been so busy that we both weren't free at – "

"Never mind that," Sirius said quickly, waving his hand again. "You still have the mark, though?" I nodded. "Does Snape?" I thought back – did he? His was real, so I assumed so. I nodded again. "Go find him and bring him here, please, we need to speak to the two of you."

Instead of going to find Severus, I sent him a Patronus message telling him to come to the Auror office as soon as possible and I went back to talking to Regulus and James.

"What did he want?" Regulus asked, nodding toward his brother.

"Asked me if I still had that fake Dark Mark from 1979 that Dumbledore put on me and asked me to get Severus to come here," I said, shrugging. Regulus frowned.

"Excuse me," he said before he quickly ran over to Sirius. After a moment, James followed him.

I sighed and made my way over to my cubicle. I had decorated it with a few pictures (one of Regulus and I, one of Harry, James, Lily, and I, and a few others),WANTEDsigns for Bellatrix Lestrange, Greyback, and Barty Crouch Jr., a map of Europe with red pins on it in every place that Bellatrix (whom Regulus and I were the leads in the search for) had been sighted or rumored to be, a poster for Puddlemere United and the Chudley Cannons – I was more of a Puddlemere fan, since they were nearby Godric's Hollow, but the Chudley Cannons were a close second.

I sat down on my chair, flung my feet up onto my desk, and watched Regulus speaking quietly – but obviously angrily – to Sirius with James intervening every now and then. I was quite certain that I knew what they were talking about – Regulus and James were trying to talk Sirius out of sending Severus and I to look for the Death Eaters, since their hiding spot would probably only be accessible if you had the Dark Mark.

I wasn't completely for this, but not completely against it either. If it was the only way – and it probably was – then I knew we would have to do it. Severus probably wouldn't agree – not at first, at least. It would take a lot of persuasion on my part, but I was sure that I could convince him – if I could get him to laugh in front of his students, which I had done before, then I could get him to do this for all of the Wizarding World.

"Nicole, what's going on?"

I looked behind me to find myself face-to-face with Severus. I smiled slightly at him, but he was too busy looking around, confused, to see it.

"_What's going on?"_ I repeated, shocked, as I swung my feet off of my desk and swiveled in my chair to face him. "You don't know? Dumbledore didn't tell you? The kids at Hogwarts didn't know? I thought they would have spread it far and wide by now."

"Obviously not, or I wouldn't have asked what was going on," he replied, staring at Regulus, James, and Sirius, who were almost now in a full-blown fight with Frank between them, trying to keep them all calm. Each one of them kept glancing over toward me but somehow none of them seemed to notice that Severus was there.

"There was a mass break-out from Azkaban. Twenty-three Death Eaters escaped."

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," he said, rubbing his forehead in frustration. He pushed some papers aside and sat down on my desk. "I should've known something was wrong – kids were oddly quiet at dinner, the kids with parents in the Order or extremely close to kids with parents in the Order were all missing, and I could have _sworn _that I saw one of the Weasley twins on the seventh floor – I thought that I was just looking at the youngest Weasley boy – "

"Ron?" I suggested, my eyebrows rose – I still didn't get why he refused to call them by their first names when he was closer to them (not much, but still closer) than he was in my original time.

" – yeah, him," he said, waving his hand impatiently, "I thought it was just him and I was imagining things. Too bad I wasn't imagining things – those twins drive any teacher mad."

"Nicole, Snape!" Sirius said, coming up beside us and standing in the doorway to my cubicle. "You both still have your Dark Marks, right?" We both nodded. "I need you both to search the usual Death Eater hideouts – Malfoy Manor, the Riddle Home in Little Hangelton, the other previous homes of Death Eaters, the homes of the Death Eater wives, you get the point."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Severus said suddenly, shaking his head. "I'm not an Auror, I don't have to follow your orders, Black."

"If you don't want me to have you arrested, yeah, you do," Sirius said quite sternly.

"You can't do that just because you're the Head Auror," Severus retorted.

"Actually, I could," Sirius replied. "I have contacts."

"I'd like to see you try – "

"Severus," I said suddenly, quietly but sternly, glaring at him. "You _have_ to do this. You won't be doing it for _Sirius_ or because Sirius told you to. You'll be doing it for _everybody_. For the whole of both the Wizarding_ and_ Muggle worlds alike. If you don't, one of them will rise to power again like Voldemort did. Do you honestly _want_ that?"

Severus sighed and shook his head.

"No." He sighed again. "Fine, I'll do it." He shot a glare at Sirius before he said, "Come on, Nicole." He got up and headed out of the door to go back to the Atrium. I followed quickly before Regulus or James could try to stop me, for I saw them both trying to hurry over to me before I could leave.

I made it before they caught me, but even Severus didn't make it before Frank called out to the whole room suddenly,

"Hey, there's news of the first attack!"

Severus spun around so suddenly I barely stopped myself before I ran into him.

"Who was it?" Tonks asked quietly – she was very pregnant, but had refused to stop coming to work until she actually had the baby.

"Mad-Eye." There were several gasps. "He got out," Frank clarified quickly, "and is now at Hogwarts with the rest of the Order members that don't work here and the Order members' kids."

"Here's another one," Alice read quietly from a memo that she had just unfolded. "The Bones. Edgar, his wife, and his children – they're all out of Hogwarts and were visiting – were killed."

How was this happening so fast? Two attacks at the same time, when they had _just _broke free?

"Gideon and Fabian Prewett were just attacked before they could come in to work. They're severely out-numbered," Tonks read frantically – Gideon and Fabian had become Aurors after the war. Severus and I looked at each other and said, at the same time,

"We're on it."

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! _Please?_**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks Artemis' hunters, Jacs94, and givetherabbitthefreakintrix for the reviews!**

**I'm proud of myself – I wrote this whole thing this afternoon/tonight. And I actually feel like this wasn't too bad of a chapter! Oh, and Happy New Year!**

Chapter 3

For a brief moment, I was so wrapped up in things that I almost forgot that we couldn't Disapparate out of the Ministry. I was about to try when I saw Severus heading out the door to go back down to the Atrium. I quickly followed him, ignoring Regulus shouting my name after me, trying to get my attention.

"We aren't going to get there in time," I said to Severus as the elevator doors opened yet again. Several wizards pushed their way on – including Mr. Weasley.

"Nicole," he said, sounding startled. But then he noticed Severus and exclaimed, "Severus! What are you doing here?"

"The Death Eaters attacked Gideon and Fabian," I answered. Upon his horrified expression, I quickly clarified, "We're going to help them now."

"Any news of anybody else being attacked?" Mr. Weasley said, his voice hollow, as though he had a feeling that his brother-in-laws wouldn't make it out.

"Mad-Eye. He's alright. But Edgar and his family – they – they weren't so lucky," I said quietly. I didn't want to have to be the one to break it to him, but better he found out from me than from some hag like Umbridge. Mr. Weasley bowed his head in grief – he and Edgar worked in the same department in the Ministry and had recently started to become closer.

The doors opened to the Atrium and Severus pushed his way out into the still crazy crowd. I guess it was a little better than before, but not much. Magical Maintenance must have done something to calm some of the witches and wizards down, but there was still chaos as I squeezed through small gaps in people to get to the fireplaces for departure. Severus was already out as I Apparated to Gideon and Fabian's.

We found ourselves outside a small cottage that I recognized as Gideon and Fabian's home. We were unsurprised to find that it was surrounded by Death Eaters – I could see at least two of them from where I stood just inside the gates. They were all shooting jinxes into the shattered windows. I could also see either a few small fires or a large fire that spread throughout the entire house in several of the windows.

Severus and I both stunned the nearest Death Eater, who fell without even realizing what or who had hit them. A green jet of light flew into one of the windows from the other Death Eater within my reign of vision, and he fell when two stunners – one from me, one from one of the twins inside the house – hit him simultaneously.

I ran up the pathway and threw the door open to the house, Severus right behind me.

The fire seemed to be a single large one, for it was burning the stairs to the upper level and had engulfed the drawing room as well. Severus and I ran into the large combined kitchen and dining room, where Fabian and Gideon were deep in battle with six Death Eaters. When they noticed us, two of them turned to me and two turned to Severus.

"_You!_"

Despite the fact that each Death Eater had their face covered, there was no mistaking that voice.

"So we meet again, Bellatrix," I said calmly as I easily blocked a nasty looking curse headed toward me sent by the Death Eater that I now knew was Bellatrix.

"_You!_" she screeched again. "You – you – you –_blood traitor!_"

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" I asked, keeping my voice just as calm as it had been previously – I knew that it pissed her off. I sent two well-aimed jinxes at her and my other dueler. They both dodged them. Bellatrix's mask got knocked off in the process, but she didn't seem to care, or even notice. The other wasn't so lucky – he tried to dodge, but it hit his shoulder and sent him against a counter, knocking him unconscious. "Because if so, I know you can do better." Instead of responding, several jets of green light flew out of her wand, one right after the other. I easily ducked the first three, but the fourth and fifth both narrowly missed me.

"Why do the Aurors think sending their youngest and most inexperienced Auror will keep us from overpowering the Prewetts over there?" she sneered. As she said this, she jinxed the kitchen knives sitting on the counter near her and sent them flying straight at me. I quickly transformed them into feathers, and they fell limply to the ground.

I laughed humorlessly at Bellatrix as I sent another jinx at the other Death Eater. They ducked, but the jinx did hit one of the Death Eaters that Severus was dueling, causing him to fly backwards into the wall and fall down it, unconscious.

"Me? The most inexperienced Auror there? You must be confused. I am probably the most experienced there, except maybe Sirius or James. I was the one to defeat Voldemort afterall, wasn't – ?"

"_You dare say his name!_" Bellatrix yelled, sounding like the insane witch that she was, sending a nasty curse at me. It glazed my cheek as I sidestepped it, and I felt blood. "You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare –!" I didn't hear what she was going to say next, for there was an explosion and a part of the counter exploded. I shook my head at Bellatrix as I saw the twins each knock down a Death Eater. Severus was now dueling one, Fabian and Gideon one together, and me one. I noticed that they all seemed to be getting nervous.

"What?" I asked when I noticed Bellatrix glance around nervously. "The sixteen year old is beating you? I'd be nervous too." Bellatrix sneered at me, but said nothing back.

Suddenly, all four Death Eaters, along with the three on the ground, disappeared with a loud _pop!_ Gideon, Fabian, Severus and I stood staring at one another, our wands still at the ready, just in case. But when nothing happened, we all lowered them slowly.

"Everybody okay?" Fabian asked. I nodded as I felt the gash on my cheek. When I removed my hand, it was covered in bright red blood.

"I'd heal that, Nick, but Fabian and I never were ones for healing spells. It's just a small gash, you'll be okay, right?" Gideon asked. I nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I didn't pay the gash much attention as I watched Fabian shoot out his patronus and send it off out the window, probably to inform the Ministry. "Are those other Death Eaters still outside?" I asked him as he looked out the window.

"Nope."

"One of them was Walden Macnair," Severus said suddenly. We all turned to face him. He was helping Gideon put out the fire, but there was no use – the house was already ruined. The upper level and drawing room had been ruined in the fire, and the kitchen had several crater sized holes in the cupboards and counters. The table in the dining room had somehow been thrown into the fire. I noticed for the first time that it was storming outside – the storm that I had felt coming a few hours previously – had it really only been a few hours since the publishing building had looked foreboding? – had finally come. Even the rain pounding on the roof wasn't putting out the fire.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"His mask was knocked off after he was stunned. He's not that hard to recognize."

Just then, I saw a familiar silver lion floating quickly toward the house.

"Hey, that's Regulus's patronus," I said, causing everybody to turn and notice it just as it entered the room through the large, smashed front windows.

"Help needed at the McKinnons' house. All four of you are probably needed as soon as possible."

Without another word, the four of us Apparated straight to the McKinnons' house. Ever since her parents had died a few years previously, Marlene and her two brothers had lived together in their parents old house. She and both of her brothers were high up in the Ministry, so it was no mystery why the Death Eaters had attacked them first. I recognized their house somehow and assumed that I must have been there before.

The house was surrounded by Death Eaters and Aurors alike. It was difficult, in the now dark night, to tell whether the wizard was a Death Eater or an Auror. Severus, Fabian, Gideon, and I split up to the areas of the house that looked like the needed the most help. I headed straight for the back, where I could see distant flashes of light.

"Not you again," I muttered as I made my way to the back and noticed one of the Death Eaters. There was no mistaking that mass of crazy long, curly black hair.

"Well lookie here," Bellatrix was taunting in her baby voice that I had heard her use before. "If it isn't my little baby cousin!"

"Hello Bellatrix," I heard Sirius' voice respond. He said something more, but I didn't hear it, for I saw a masked Death Eater raise his or her wand to point it at Sirius's back.

"Oy!" I shouted, though they probably didn't hear me over the bangs, shouts, and screams from in and around the house. They didn't expect the curse that hit their chest a moment later – I didn't even have to raise my wand, because for the first time in a while, I had managed to control my wandless magic. The Death Eater was thrown backward, his wand flying out of his hand and his mask flying off as he hit the ground with a _thud_.

"Well, well, well," I said tantalizingly as I walked slowly up to him. I towered over his cowering figure. "If it isn't the little _rat_." I stopped walking. "I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned. Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do," I said, quoting Mad-Eye Moody from my original time. "Although," I added, "that fits you." Ropes appeared out of thin air and wrapped themselves around Wormtail. I left him there as I turned back to the fight.

"Come on," I heard Sirius tease Bellatrix as I jinxed another Death Eater who had narrowly missed hitting me with a nasty curse. "You can do better than that!" Bellatrix sneered at him and sent a green jet of light at him. I knew, as soon as I saw it, there was no way that Sirius could dodge it in time, and there's no way to block it.

Except –

My mouth formed the words that I had only said a few times previously –

"_Avada Kedavra!_"

The jet of green light that I had sent flung straight toward the one Bellatrix had sent. But I could tell easily – _anybody _could tell easily – that mine was going to be too late. I pushed all of the magic that I could muster into it, and hoped to God that it would work.

There was a _pop! _louder than many of the previous bangs in the house, and both of the green lights disappeared in a small explosion. The glass in the nearby window shattered. A piece of it chipped my upper lip, but I didn't care. Bellatrix, furious, turned to me.

"Hello _again_, dear Bella," I said, blocking a jinx from some other masked Death Eater. I sent a curse at her, which she blocked.

"I heard you were head of the search for me at the Ministry," she sneered, sending several more curses that I blocked or dodged. I sent several back at her, but she was just as hard to hit as I was. "Didn't do too good of a job, did you?" If she thought that was going to anger me, it didn't – we had been hot on her tail a few days previously, though she didn't know it.

"You were hiding high in the Grampian mountains Friday, were you not?" She paled as she sent a Cruciatus sent by the familiar green jet toward me. They were both easy to dodge. "Yeah, we knew that. But those Aurors who were hot on your trail had to leave when your buddies busted out."

"You'll be sorry," Bellatrix snarled at me. "You'll be sorry you ever _thought _of betraying him."

"I will, will I?" I asked, disbelief obvious in my voice. I sent several consecutive spells at her, but she blocked them. There was another _bang _and part of the wall of the large home behind Bellatrix gave out, causing the third floor to cave in. I hoped nobody was up there, but as it had looked as though the whole third floor were on fire, I doubted that, if they were, they would have been alive anyway.

"Hello there, Bellatrix."

If possible, Bellatrix paled even further as Regulus stepped up beside me and he and I both sent the Impediment jinx at her. She was so stunned to see her supposedly dead cousin that she almost got hit by the curse that I had sent, but she stepped out of the way just in time to escape it.

"You – you're – _impossible_," she muttered. "You're dead!"

"I can assure you, I'm notdead," Regulus said calmly.

That's all it took – Bellatrix started firing spells off randomly. Green, blue, white, orange. She didn't care who they hit – an Auror or a Death Eater, it didn't matter to her.

So, Regulus and I followed suit.

We blocked or deflected every spell that she sent our way that we could, and dodged all those that we could not. And, throughout all of this, we were firing off any spell, jinx, hex, or curse that came to our minds. And with the two of us doing this against only one other witch, we knew that she would get hit eventually.

After a moment of jinxing, cursing, dodging, and blocking, Bellatrix fell to _incarcerous _that I sent her way.

"Nice one Nicki!" Regulus said, high-fiving me before we each started up separate duels with other, masked Death Eaters.

As I dueled with this obviously inexperienced Death Eater, I realized how outnumbered we were. I could see four Aurors and about seven Death Eaters, not counting those who had been taken down already.

"Regulus!" I hissed as I came up next to him after hitting the other Death Eater with the Impediment Jinx. I took on dueling another one quickly. "There's no way that we can defeat them! They have more than twice our numbers!"

"I know!" Regulus said back, knocking the Death Eater he was fighting down easily and then jinxing the one I was dueling while they were distracted with me. "We have to tell Sirius."

Somehow, as though on cue, the Death Eaters disappeared as one yet again, taking even those who were dead or tied up with them. At the same time, a sickly green glow came over those of us who were still standing there. I shivered, and the bottom of my stomach dropped. I knew what it meant without even looking up at the sky.

"You okay?" Regulus asked me, probably talking about the gash in my cheek. I nodded. "Come on," he muttered. He hadn't looked up either as he put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me toward the front of the house. As we walked around it, we heard a terrible cry that even the Cruciatus curse could not cause.

"_No! _Paul – no, no!"

_No..._

Cries like that only meant one thing.

"Marlene, it's okay, Marlene – "

_No, no..._

Regulus grabbed my hand and squeezed it lightly. It seemed that he knew what was going on, too.

"Where's Carter? _Where's Carter?_"

"I'm right here, Marlene."

Carter and Paul were Marlene's brothers. It seemed that Carter was okay, but Paul...

Regulus and I reached James, who was staring at the scene before him with wide, wet eyes. Marlene, Aaron, and Frank were standing near a body on the ground. I didn't – I couldn't – look at it. Tears filled my eyes, but I wiped them away before they actually

"Where's Severus?" Fabian asked, coming up beside me. I shrugged, looking around.

"He was hit with a nasty curse," Gideon said quietly, coming up beside his twin. "Sirius had Alice take him to St. Mungo's. He'll be okay," he added quickly upon seeing my horrified look, "but he was unconscious."

"Well," Sirius said, coming up beside us. "There goes our hopes of having you and Snape find the Death Eater hideout. I'm not sending you alone, and he's going to be stuck in St. Mungo's for a while, probably." I sighed, resting my head on Regulus' shoulder. "Go back to the Headquarters. We can talk there."

There were several _pops_. Regulus side-alonged me to the Ministry. The Atrium was now nearly empty. I wondered where everybody had gone, but didn't ask security as we passed.

Once at the Headquarters, we found Tonks, James, Alice, Frank, Gideon, Fabian, and Kingsley sitting in solemn quiet.

"The Death Eaters finally settled down," Tonks, who had been the only one to stay and wait while we went off to fight, said. "John, Gawain, Adrian, Rufus, Persephone, and Lynette are on their way back from fighting at Dorcas Meadows' place now. Livia was injured – not badly, but enough to where Persephone didn't trust herself to heal it – so Anna took her to St. Mungo's."

"Where are the others?"

"Erin never showed up, Troy and Kristen are d-dead – " Alice and I gasped. Regulus squeezed my hand. " – and the rest are either on their way back or still fighting somewhere."

"Somebody needs to take the list of those who are dead, injured, or missing to Dumbledore so he can talk to those students who are related to them. And we need to contact those waiting in the Room of Requirement," Sirius said suddenly. I sighed and removed my hand from Regulus's.

"I'll do it," I said. "I need to do something. I don't feel like just sitting here anymore."

"Is your cheek okay?" Alice asked me as she passed over the list of injured, missing, and dead that I was to take to Dumbledore. I nodded.

"Oh, I'm fine, thanks. I'll have Madam Pomfrey heal it when I get there."

Before anybody could fret anymore over the simple gash in my cheek, I took the parchment from Alice and headed back toward the Atrium.

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want. Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks givetherabbitthefreakintrix, Tvetidee, Anonymous, and Duskfire1954 for the reviews!**

**Sorry that this took so long! School started up again Tuesday, and I've just been busy. It would've been later yet if I hadn't have stayed home from school sick today. But here it is now!**

Chapter 4

Hogsmeade was silent as I sent my Patronus to Dumbledore, asking him to allow me in. It had stopped raining here. The stores were all still open – it was only six-ish, afterall – but nobody was there except for the workers in the shops. Everybody must have tried to hide once they had heard the news. I waited patiently by the gates to the grounds until I saw a lantern bobbing towards me in the distance.

"All righ', Nicole?"

"Hey, Hagrid!" I called back as he opened the gates with a single flick of his new wand (Dumbledore and I had worked tirelessly in the recent past to get his name cleared this time around as well.). I entered and then closed the gates behind me while he put the enchantments back up.

"What happened to yur face?"

"What? Oh." I rubbed my finger over the gash in my cheek. "It's nothing."

"All righ'," he said, obviously disbelieving me. "What're yeh doin' here a' this time o' nigh'?"

"It's only seven. And, well, I'm guessing you can guess why I'm here." He shook his head, and I frowned. "Well surely you've heard?" I asked, astounded, as we started up toward the castle.

"Heard what?" he asked, sounding both confused and curious. I looked up at him out of the corner of my eyes and frowned even more.

"You don't _know?_"

"Yur not helping me figure out what yur trying ter say," Hagrid said, now sounding extremely confused as he pulled open the doors to the castle.

"Hang on a moment, would you?" I asked, a little angry. I knew Dumbledore knew what was going on, but he wasn't telling Hagrid. And if he wasn't telling Hagrid, who else might he not be telling? Did those locked in the Room of Requirement know? Did the students who had relatives hurt, dead, or missing know? Did Remus, who taught Defense Against the Dark Arts despite the fact that the whole school knew that he was a werewolf, know? Did Professor McGonagall? Since Severus didn't know, I was tempted to say "no" to each question.

I could hear the chit-chatter of the students still at dinner as I pushed open the doors to the Great Hall roughly. Heads snapped toward me as I marched quickly up to the table at the head of the Hall, where Dumbledore, McGonagall, Remus, and the rest of the teachers (excluding Severus and Hagrid) sat, looking perplexed.

I saw Draco out of the corner of my eyes at the Slytherin table, but said nothing to him. The students knew that I was a frequent visitor to Hogwarts, so it wasn't such a surprise that I was there, but it was the fact that I looked pissed that caused the Hall to become silent as I reached the head table.

Instead of talking to Dumbledore, I turned to Remus.

"Remus," I said quickly, "do you know why I'm here? Why the others are here, as well?" I asked. I tried to keep quiet, but I knew that the whole Hall heard me.

Remus slowly shook his head. "No, but is your cheek okay?"

"It's fine. Does _anybody _know?" I asked the rest of the teachers. They either shook their heads or merely stared, perplexed at me. I heard Hagrid approach the table slowly behind me as I turned to Dumbledore.

"Dumbledore," I said angrily. "They have the right to know! Do the others even know?"

"I wanted to wait until we had news, which it seems obvious that you have – "

"It doesn't matter!" I snapped. "Even the _students _have a right to know!"

"Know what?" McGonagall asked. I rose my eyebrows at Dumbledore.

"Are you going to tell the teachers and students, or do I have to be the one to break it to them? Because some of them have relatives that are _dead _and they have no idea." Dumbledore sighed and said,

"Alright. I'll tell them." He stood up, and I moved over to the side while Hagrid went and sat down in his seat. "Silence," he called calmly, as there had been a loud murmur that spread throughout the Hall while we had been discussing. The students did as he said. "Now, I am extremely sorry to have to inform you all that as of about three o'clock this afternoon, twenty-three Death Eaters escaped from Azkaban."

A shocked silence followed his words, until Draco called out over the hall,

"Which ones?" Dumbledore turned to me and shook his head lightly – he didn't know which ones. I sighed and stepped forward – I remembered them from the list I had seen earlier – and read them off,

"Avery, Alecto Carrow, Amycus Carrow, Crabbe, Antonin Dolohov, Gibbon, Goyle, Jugson, Igor Karkaroff, Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Walden Macnair, Lucius Malfoy, Mulciber, Nott, Peter Pettigrew, Agustus Rookwood, Evan Rosier, Thorfinn Rowle, Selwynn, Travers, Wilkes, and Yaxley."

The students who were related to any of them all had different reactions. Crabbe and Goyle exchanged bewildered glances. Theodore Nott looked green – I knew he was ashamed of what his father had done and, despite the fact that he was in Slytherin, he didn't believe in what his father had fought for. Draco paled considerably – he was even more ashamed of his father than Theodore.

"They've already attacked several places," I said. I saw nearly all eyes flicker over the gash on my cheek. "People have already been killed, injured, or are missing." I flicked my wand and made four extra copies of the lists and handed one to each Head of House (McGonagall, Sprout, and Flitwick) and gave the Slytherin one to Dumbledore. "Severus was hit with a nasty curse. He's in St. Mungo's and will be for a while. He should be fine, however."

"Students," Dumbledore called over the hall. "Please go to your Common Rooms, where your Heads of Houses will come in a while to inform those who have family members on this list."

"We need a potions teacher, then," Dumbledore said once all of the students were gone. I knew what that twinkling in his eyes meant...

"No," I said, shaking my head and waving my hands for emphasis. "No, no, no, no, _no!_ I'm abysmal at potions, you know that. I just barely passed."

"You got an E in your potions NEWT."

"A," I corrected.

"Hardly. It was a very high A."

"Well, still. I would probably fail students who did good, and pass those who did bad." Dumbledore paused and then turned to Remus behind him.

"Remus," he said calmly. "You got an O in your potions NEWT, am I correct?"

"Er, yes sir,"

"Would you mind taking over the potions class for the time being so Nicole can teach Defense?"

"_I have a job_," I said quickly. "I can't just blow it off! Especially in a time like this! I need the money!"

"You were never in it for the money," Dumbledore said. _Damn it, he knew me too well_. "You just wanted to bring those who deserved it to justice. I know you, Nicole. And I'm sure you and I could work things out with Sirius. You could work at night, or something." I turned to leave.

"I'm going to go talk to those in the Room of Requirement, tell them what has happened," I said without ever giving Dumbledore a straight answer. "Or do any of them know?"

"Only Mad-Eye knows, I believe."

I didn't reply as I headed out the doors into the Entrance Hall and, from there, up the deserted marble staircase to the seventh floor. I walked past the blank wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy three times thinking, _I need to see those in hiding. I need to see those in hiding. I need to see those in hiding._

When I opened my eyes, the door was there and I pushed it open.

I didn't even get to see the room on the inside before tons of wands pointed at me. I put my hands up in surrender as they realized who I was.

"Nicki!"

Harry rushed forward to the front of the group and pulled me into a tight hug.

"What's going on?" he asked, holding me at arms length and noticing the gash on my cheek. I swallowed and looked around in the familiar faces. Lily, Scarlet, Mary, Charlie, Molly, Fred, George, Mad-Eye, Bill, Fleur, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Johnny, and all the other kids. They were in a large room that looked quite a bit like the Gryffindor Common Room but with several fires and doors here and there that had names on them, like "Black" or "Potter".

"Does _anybody _know? Lily, Arthur, Mad-Eye, Mary?"

"No," Mad-Eye replied. "All I know is that I was attacked and when I got away, Sirius told me to come here." I ran my fingers through my hair and muttered,

"Great." I sighed and said louder, "There was a mass breakout from Azkaban, twenty-three Death Eaters escaped. They attacked several places since then – which explains Mad-Eye – but – " I took a deep breath, " – not everybody was as lucky as him." I handed the list to Lily, who unfolded it and read it silently. I heard several gasps as the parchment was passed around.

"Who's going to teach potions?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. Dumbledore tried to get_ me_ to. But I don't want to. I have another job. Plus, I suck at Potions. Then he tried to get Remus to teach potions and to get me to teach Defense, but still."

Just then, as if on cue, the door opened again and Dumbledore, Remus, Sirius, Regulus, James, Alice, Frank, Tonks, Gideon, Fabian, Arthur, and Kingsley entered, all spreading apart to go to their family members.

"Erin showed up finally," Regulus said as he approached me. "She didn't get the memo so she just came in when she was supposed to work. She was awful shocked when she found out what had happened and everything that she had missed. Everybody else is on duty now, we got off for a while."

"We still need a potions teacher," Dumbledore said in his usual calm voice once everybody had gotten reacquainted with their families.

"I'm _not _doing it – "

"That's not what I'm saying," Dumbledore said quickly. "If we could work everything out with Sirius, we could have you teach Defense Against the Dark Arts during the day and work at night or something like that, and Remus could be the temporary potions teacher."

"I don't want – " I started, but Sirius cut me off.

"Actually," he said quietly, "that's not a bad idea."

I stared, dumbfounded, at him, but said nothing as he continued.

"I'm not sending you out there to find the Death Eater's hideout alone, and since Snape is in St. Mungo's, he obviously can't go with you. You have nobody to go with you. So while he's stuck there, you can work here. Once he's back up and as good as new, you can come back and he can resume his position as potions master. But until then, I think it's best if you remain here."

"No, no, _no_. I'm _not_ a teacher, I'm an _Auror_ – "

"Just do it," Regulus said. "The Death Eaters are all going to be after you, you know it as well as any of us, and Hogwarts is the safest place for you to stay until Severus can go out with you to find their hideout."

"I don't _want _to be stuck up here," I said, now resorting to the last thing I could think of – whining. I figured it wouldn't work, but decided to try anyways. "I want to be out fighting those battles! It's _obviously _what I'm supposed to be doing, since _I _was the one who killed Voldemort in the first place, but do you guys think I'm capable of taking down Death Eaters? _Noo – !_"

"Stop whining, it's not going to get you your way," Regulus said. I pouted – I should've known that he would know what I was planning on pulling.

"I'm an _adult_ – "

"Technically, you're not," Regulus pointed out.

"Regulus!" I exclaimed. "Do you _want _me to not get to work where I want to? Do you _want _me to have to take this stupid job?"

"No, I want you out of harms way and into safety." I huffed and crossed my arms.

"So it's settled then," Dumbledore said after a moment of silence. "Until Severus is better and up for working, Remus will take over position as potions master and Nicole will, therefore, take over position as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"What about the kids?" Sirius asked, pulling Leah closer to him. "The young ones? And Scarlet, and everybody else?"

"We'll have to put protective enchantments on the houses," I said. "You saw what they did to Gideon and Fabian's and the McKinnon's. Or else have you all stay here, which is actually probably safer and the better choice. This room can provide anything needed. And everybody else can stay here when they're not at work."

"That's actually a good idea, Nicole," Dumbledore said slowly.

"Who knew?" I muttered. Only Regulus heard me, and he smirked as he continued to listen to Dumbledore.

"You all can stay here – in this very room – when you're not working, or if you don't work just hang out here. It looks like there's room for everybody here." He motioned toward the doors, where a few had been added when everybody else arrived.

"Sounds good to me," Kingsley said. "Although I'll probably be stuck at work almost the whole time."

"Nicole," Mary said suddenly. "Do you want me to heal that for you?"

"Heal what?"

"Your cheek, of course." I had completely forgotten about that gash, and I felt it to see if it was still bleeding. It had finally stopped.

"Please."

Mary ran the tip of her wand across my cheek. I felt it healing and the dried blood siphoning from my face as she did so.

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

"Well, I really must be leaving now. I'll inform the students about the changing of teachers in the morning, shall I?" Dumbledore said. He handed both Remus and I a piece of parchment. "Those are your schedules with the list of students in each class." He turned and left.

Soon enough, I was lying in bed beside Regulus, who was off duty for the night, in our own room off of the main one. It didn't take long for me to drift off to sleep...

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_The house was ruined. All of the windows had been smashed. The upper level and half of the lower level had been burnt to the ground in a fire that she had started. _

_The wind whipped the rain that came down in sheets all around. Thunder clapped in the distance. A jet of lightning struck a tree on the horizon, followed by yet another boom of thunder._

_But she paid no mind to the ruined-ness of the house or the terrible weather as she made her way into the house. She only had one thing on her mind, and that was to get the mission she had assigned herself finished. She didn't even bother to push the dark, crazy black curls out of her face as the wind blew them all over._

_The small part of the house that was not ruined, which consisted of the large connected kitchen and dining room, was where she headed. The rain came in through the windows and the places where the roof had caved in. She searched the ground quickly until she found it – a single strand of hair. She picked it up between two fingers and looked closely at it. It was long, wavy, and a light, strawberry-blonde color. She knew who it belonged to instantly._

_And, right in the middle of it, was what she had been hoping was there; a small dot of red. Blood. If it hadn't been there, she would have been screwed, but she had gotten lucky – just the thing she needed was there. Good thing she had managed to cut Nicole Potter's cheek, or she wouldn't have been able to get her blood._

_She smiled evilly as she stood back up fully. She lifted her head high, looking up toward the sky and letting the rain fall onto her body and drench her even more than she had been before, and laughed. She lifted the hand holding the strand of hair high in the air and yelled,_

"_The Dark Lord will rise again!"_

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Hundreds of miles away, I woke with a start.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks givetherabbitthefreakintrix and Duskfire1954 for the reviews!**

**givetherabbitthefreakintrix – this one's for you! You'll see why when you read on.**

Chapter 5

_Hundreds of miles away, I woke with a start._

I sat up quickly and looked around the dark, quiet room. Despite the fact that it was the middle of February, it was hot and I was sweaty, so I pushed the blankets halfway off.

"You 'kay, Nick?" Regulus grumbled, sitting up as well. Evidently, I had woken him up – no surprise there, he wasn't a very heavy sleeper.

"Y-yeah," I said, rubbing my eyes and checking the watch that Sirius had long ago given me to see that it was only about four in the morning. "I just – I had a very strange dream."

"Nightmares again?" Regulus asked, switching on a lamp and wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I shook my head – I had been having nightmares about the war for a while.

"No. Just a dream. A strange one." After having been pressured for a while by Regulus, I finally told him about the dream – how it was about Bellatrix, how she had gone to Gideon and Fabian's house and taken a strand of my hair that I had lost, and what she had yelled afterward. When I finished, Regulus stared at me with wide-eyes. "Do you think it really happened?" I asked after a moment. "Or was I just dreaming?"

"I don't think that was just any dream," he said slowly and quietly. "Maybe you should tell Dumbledore about it."

"That's not the answer to everything," I said. "_Tell Dumbledore_. But you're right," I added, much to Regulus' amusement. "If anybody will know what it was, he will." After a moment of silence, I pushed the remaining blankets off and stood up. "I'm not going to be able to fall back asleep." I paused, stretching and then yawning. "I think I'm going to go find something to do. Maybe start planning the classes I have tomorrow." It was a Sunday, so there were no classes that day.

"Might be a good idea," Regulus laughed. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Remus might have some classes planned already. I'll ask him," I said as I grabbed the parchment with my class lists on it, a quill, ink, and another piece of parchment and left the room to go to the large common room-like area, closing the door lightly behind me so I didn't wake somebody else up. However, I found that Sirius was already up. He was rocking baby Parker back to sleep.

"Hello Sirius,," I said, sitting down across from him near the only lit fire in the room.

"'Lo, Nick. Did Parker wake you?"

"Nah," I reassured him quickly, setting my things down on the table in front of me. "I woke up from a really strange dream. I know that I won't be able to fall back asleep, so I came out here."

"What was your dream?" he asked. I figured that since Sirius was the Head Auror, in case that really _did _happen, I should tell him. So, I described the dream to Sirius just as I had done to Regulus. When I finished, he was staring at me with his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"That doesn't sound like just any dream," he said after a moment. "You should ask Dumbledore about it. Or look in the library for a book about dreams when they open later." He paused. "It's a good thing you told me. The Aurors could use that information, if it _is _true, to help track them down and prevent just that."

"For some reason," I muttered, "I feel as if it wouldn't be preventable."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"As you all know," I heard Dumbledore saying in the Great Hall at breakfast. I was listening from the Entrance Hall. I really didn't feel like going in there, "there was a major breakout from Azkaban yesterday, and those who escaped attacked many places. Professor Snape had tried to help the Aurors, but in the process, he got severely injured. He's in St. Mungo's and will be for a while. He will be fine," he quickly assured the Slytherins, "but we need somebody to fill in for him. Professor Lupin has agreed to take the position as Potions master until he gets back, and Nicole Potter, I'm sure you all know her, is going to take the position as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

"Where is Nicole?" somebody called.

"Ah, it's _Professor Potter _now," Dumbledore corrected. I frowned – I would much rather prefer Nicole. "And I believe she is sitting just outside these doors." I frowned even more – how did he know that? Oh, right, he's Dumbledore and, according to the twins, "he knows all". "Professor Potter, if you will." I sighed and stood up before entering the Great Hall.

"You know," I said loud enough for Dumbledore to hear me at the other end of the Hall. "I think I'd prefer it if they all called me Nicole. I'm just their age, afterall."

"If you'd prefer," Dumbledore said as I walked up the aisle toward him. The usual chatter of students resumed, and I sat down between Remus and Dumbledore.

"Professor, I have a question to ask you," I said.

"Ask away, Nick," Dumbledore said. "And please, call me Albus."

"Alright," I muttered before I went on to describe the dream to him, Remus, and McGonagall, who had both been listening in.

"I have a feeling that that was not just any dream," Dumbledore said when I finished. Most of the students had left the Hall by now, and, of the teachers, only the four of us remained. "No, I can guarantee that was not just any dream. It was probably what was happening at that exact time."

"But why did I dream that? I mean, if it really was happening, how was I dreaming it too?"

"Sometimes, even _I _don't know all of the secrets of magic and dreams and everything else," Dumbledore said mysteriously. "I shall alert the Aurors that the Death Eaters may be trying to bring Voldemort back." He stood up to leave. I was too distracted to remember that Sirius already knew until Dumbledore started to walk away.

"Wait," I called after him. "Sirius already knows. I told him this morning before he left to go to work." Either he didn't hear me, or he ignored me as he walked out of the Hall. I sighed and turned around. McGonagall and Remus were still staring at me. "What?" I asked, ruder than I had meant to.

"Do you really think that Voldemort's coming back?" Remus asked quietly. I shrugged.

"I dunno. I just hope not."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"So I hear you all are ready to learn about the Unforgivable Curses. Is that true?"

It was the next day. I had only two classes that day – Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years and Gryffindor and Slytherin seventh years. Right now, I was teaching the fifth years. It seemed that Remus kept them ahead of where they should be, because the fifth years were ready to learn about the Unforgivables when usually those are taught in sixth year.

"Yep," Johnny said. I saw Astoria, who was sitting beside him, rolled her eyes at him. Typical Johnny, being the only one to answer, would say that _happily_.

"Well I can _honestly _say that the Unforgivables are not my favorite – to teach, to learn, to even merely _talk _about."

"Is everything in your book true?" Romilda Vane asked. I nodded.

"Sure is."

"_I _don't believe it," she said snottily, brushing her hair out of her face. "It's all impossible. You probably just made it up to get money."

"I didn't ask you if you believed it, now did I?" I asked, just as snottily. Hey, I _told _you I wouldn't make a good teacher. "Besides, if it wasn't true, how did Regulus get here? And don't back-talk me. I'm your teacher now. I can assign detentions and take points off of your House." She frowned suddenly, and the Gryffindors all shushed her. Demelza Robbins beside her kicked her under the table. "Don't worry," I reassured quickly. "I think I'd rather give a detention.

"Anyways," I said, "back to the lesson. I'll give you a warning – you might want to take notes. Now, can anybody tell me how many Unforgivable Curses there are?"

Not a single hand went up.

"Really?" I asked, shocked. "Nobody's heard of them? Nobody's _read_ about them?"

"Well," Astoria said thoughtfully, "in your book, you mention a lot of dark curses. But I don't know which ones are actually the _Unforgivable _curses, or even how many of them are."

"Guess," I said. "At how many, that is."

"Er...," her face contorted in thought. "Are there four?"

"Close. There's three. And they are so named – ?"

"Because the use of any of them on another person is unforgivable. And they earn you a, as you put it, 'one-way ticket' to Azkaban."

"Good," I said. "Can anybody name one of them?" Almost every hand went up. "Can anybody name _two_?" Several dropped. "How about all three?" At this, _every _hand dropped. "Romilda. I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself for earlier. Tell me one of the Unforgivable curses."

"The Killing Curse," she said quietly.

"Oh come on!" I said. "That's the easiest one! Anyway, tell me about this curse."

"Well," she said, "it's not that hard. They say the words, there's a flash of light of some color, and you're dead. It doesn't show any damage to your body. It just...takes our soul. And there's no blocking it."

"I bet to differ," I said. She stared at me, confused. "I find ways to block it. Always. If it hits an object, the object bursts into flames. I fly objects across the ground to intercept it when one of my colleges are going to be hit by it. Or, as a last resort, sometimes I have to intercept it with another Killing Curse. Those are the only two ways to get it to stop." I looked around and said,

"Vicky." Victoria Frobisher looked up from taking her notes. "Can you tell me the name of another?"

"Well, there's the Imperious curse." I nodded, waving my hand for her to elaborate. "It causes the caster to get full control over the victims actions." I nodded again.

"It _is _possible to resit," I said. "But very hard to do so. Dumbledore is making me put it on each of you to try to teach you how to fight it. Don't worry – we have permission. And if you have any objection, let me tell you this – I had the same reaction, but I ended up using that ability later on in life." I paused. "Does anybody know the last curse?" Johnny's hand went up slowly. "Johnny?"

"The Cruciatus curse. It's almost unbearable pain. Like the other two, there's no blocking it, and, if used for a long period of time, can cause permanent damage."

"Good job," I said. "Five points to Gryffindor for each one of you, and five to Slytherin for Astoria. I'll give you a head start, to start during class – due at the beginning of the next class, whenever that is – a foot long essay on the unforgivable curses. You have to use at least one source, and you can use your classroom textbooks if you'd like."

I spent the rest of the hour reading one of Scarlet's books. When the seventh years all came in, Harry, Ron, and Hermione came in with the crowd. Hermione sat in the front beside Neville, but Harry and Ron sat all the way at the back. I didn't really even glance up from my book until the bell rang.

"I have a question," Draco said as soon as I put the book down on the empty desk in front of me, before I even had the chance to talk. I stood up to listen to him. He was sitting in middle beside Dean, whom he had become closer to since I was close with them both. "How come, if you're younger than us, you get to teach us? We shouldn't have to listen to you and obey you."

"To be honest," I said, jumping up to sit on the desk, "I agree." Everybody stared, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, at me. "I didn't _want _to take this job. I was nearly _forced _to by my boss."

"Sirius – ?" Neville asked. I nodded.

"Yep. Sirius. I didn't have a choice. It was either this or the potions position, and, honestly, do you expect _me _to teach potions?" I noticed Harry glaring at me in the back, looking extremely sulky and, for lack of a better word, pissed off. I wondered what he was going on about.

"Anyway, Remus tells me that you are in process of reviewing for your NEWTs, and you were reviewing Dementors and Inferi. Is that correct?" Several people grumbled "yes"es. "Alright. Were you guys ever taught to perform Patroni?" More grumbles of "yes". "Alright, we're going to review that and then we'll review about Inferi and the one way to stop them. I will warn you – you _will _have homework. Two essays – one on both he Dementors and Inferi. _Don't _complain – you want to pass your NEWTs, don't you? How are you going to do that if you don't study and try to commit everything to memory? You won't. Believe me, I've been there, done that."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Harry, could I talk to you after class for a moment?"

Harry grumbled and sulked up to the room. Ron and Hermione stood by waiting for them, but I waved them off and asked them to leave – this was a personal moment. A, as many people put it, "brother-sister bonding time." I sat back down on the end of the desk, and Harry sat in the desk right in front of me.

"Harry, are you okay? You're acting – different."

"I'm fine," Harry snapped.

"Yeah, I know you better than that," I said just as rudely back to him. "Really – what's bothering you?"

"_Nothing!" _he snapped, standing up and making to leave. I didn't even move – his wand flew out of his pocket and landed beside me, and the lock clicked from the other side of the door.

"You're going to tell me what's wrong, or sit here all day."

"Fine," he snapped, sitting back down. "At least then I don't have to go to potions!"

"Remus is teaching potions, he'll be nice. Don't forget, I can take points from Gryffindor and assign detentions. Now _tell me what's wrong – !_"

"It's _you_!" Harry yelled suddenly, standing up. I felt as if he had slapped me. Me? What had I done to him? Everything had been fine between us before, but now...? What had changed? "Okay, not necessarily you, but what's been happening since the _real _you got here! Everything has changed! And it's all – your – fault!

"Everything was fine!" he yelled, continuing his rant, "Mum and Dad loved us both equally, nobody paid more attention to you than me, nobody just _forgot _about me! And I know it's wrong to be jealous, to be envious, to spite you, because you can't control it, but I do!

"When I'm with you, everybody just forgets about me! It's all about you. 'Nicole this' and 'Nicole that.' NEVER 'Harry this' or 'Harry that', unless you're talking _about _me, when I'm standing _right there!_ I actually feel like I _hate _you, which is completely wrong because you're my sister! And then that _Regulus _shows up, and my malevolence gets worse! I end up resenting him even more than you, wanting nothing but for him to disappear, because Mum and Dad even love _him _more than me! He's going to be my brother-in-law and _I can't stand _him, and I don't even know him! And – and – "

"Harry," I said quietly, hoping to cut him off. He ignored me.

"And you're _always _going to over throw me, no matter what, nobody's going to ever notice _Nicole Potter's older brother who killed Voldemort in the _other _time, but not in this time so he doesn't matter! _Mum and Dad have hardly paid me any attention since you came! They _obviously _only want kids who can kill Dark Lords, and that's only you! I'm nothing to them – !"

"Harry!" I yelled, effectively cutting him off. He stared at my feet, breathing heavily, and I moved to the desk beside him. His hand was resting on his thigh, and I put mine on his. But he quickly pulled his away, still glaring at my feet. So I put my hands on his cheeks and forced his head up, forcing him to look at me.

"Harry, I know exactly how you feel."

"No you don't – !"

"Okay, maybe not _exactly_. But it's very similar. I've been there. In my time. You've heard the stories. _You _were the one who was doing that.

"I know, you think this isn't helping, but it really is. Mum and Dad love us both equally. There's just a lot going on, and they want to keep you out of the picture. Not because they don't care about you, but because they _do_. There's no way _I _can stay out of the picture – after what I was nearly forced to do back in the 70s, after becoming an Auror and being in that fight a few days ago. They know it's a lost cause, but they also know that they _can _protect you by leaving you here, leaving you out of the picture. Maybe the Death Eaters and Voldemort, if he does come back, won't come after you. They care too much about you.

"I'll be honest – I know that most people will just shove you aside and forget about you when I'm there. I don't want that. And I know for a fact that if it was you instead of me, _you _wouldn't want that either. You'd rather that I had the fame, because I seem to like it. I don't like it anymore than you like being shoved aside. There's nothing I can do about those people, but I _can _assure you that Mum and Dad love us both equally.

"As for Regulus," I continued before he could speak, "you can go on hating him. I can't do anything about that. But take some time and get to know him. He's a great person, really. His fame will die down, and he'll feel like you do already eventually. Think about it – you never judge somebody without getting to know them. Don't do it to Regulus just because he has fame right now. And Mum and Dad, they do love Regulus. They honestly do. But they love _you_ and they love _me _more than they love him." I shook my head slowly and laughed lightly.

"Harry, when you realize what you said and realize that it's okay to feel that way, you're going to hate yourself. I know you too well. Don't beat yourself up over it. It's not a big deal, to feel that way. Don't tell me your sorry. There's no need to be. Because I know why you feel that way." I smiled and kissed his forehead. "I still love you, Harry, and nothing will ever change that."

I went back and sat at the desk, first unlocking the door and then pulling out the book I had been reading before, and started reading it. Harry sat there silently for a moment before he got up and walked toward my desk. He picked up his wand and said quietly,

"I'm – "

"Sorry? Didn't I say not to tell me your sorry?" I looked up at him and saw him smiling down at me.

"I love you too, Nick." I smiled and replied jokingly,

"You better."

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! _Please?_ Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks givetherabbitthefreakintrix and Duskfire1954 for the reviews!**

**This took so much longer than I had hoped! Sorry about that! And I'm also sorry about how it's slightly shorter than usual. I had a slight writers' block for a few days, but then I went back and reread the last few chapters and I got it all fixed. Again, sorry about the slow update and shortness! The more reviews I get, the fast I update! *hint hint***

Chapter 6

"Ahh, I was given special orders from Dumbledore himself not allowing you to leave the grounds."

"_What_? I'm a _teacher_, I'm _of age_ – "

"Technically, you're not."

"Shut _up_, Astoria," I snarled at her. She frowned and headed out the gates to go to Hogsmeade for Valentine's Day – it was the first Hogsmeade weekend since I had started teaching merely six days previously – as I turned back to Filch. "I can make my own decisions, and _I – am – going – to – Hogsmeade!_" Filch smiled nastily.

"Oh, no you're not."

"Oh? And pray tell _why, _exactly, Dumbledore won't allow me to leave the grounds?"

"Because he knows that the only reason _you'll _want to leave is because you want to go in to work."

"Please," I said in disbelief, "I'm not _that _stupid. Everybody there _knows _that I can't come in."

"You still can't go." I huffed and looked around me, spotting Harry, Ron, and Hermione not too far away.

"Fine," I snarled, running over toward them. I tapped Harry on the shoulder and whispered into his ear, "Do you have the cloak?" He shook his head. "How about the map?"

"No, Dad has them both. He needed to borrow them for work or something."

"Damn it!" I cursed, turning away. James didn't _really _need them for work, I knew. He had just taken them so that _I _couldn't use them. _But_, I thought, _I'm not that stupid_. I had another idea.

Filch wasn't looking. He was too busy sneering at some second year Gryffindors (Miles Shacklebolt among them) he had caught trying to sneak into Hogsmeade unnoticed to see me put a Disillusionment charm on myself. I slipped silently down the grounds, first heading toward Hagrid's hut and then veering to the left. Before long, I was standing in front of the Whomping Willow and levitating a stick to poke the familiar knob to make it immobilized. I took one final glance back at the gates to the castle, where McGonagall was now yelling at Miles and the other second years. Nobody was bothered to notice me slip into the gap in the roots of the Willow.

I lit my wand and walked swiftly through the silent, eerie tunnel. Despite the fact I wasn't very tall at all, I had to duck over, nearly crawling, to be sure I didn't hit my head on the ceiling.

Once I reached the Shrieking Shack, I Apparated instantly. I had already made my decision.

The streets were busy, full of Muggles. Not a single one of them seemed to give a second thought to the abandoned department store Purge and Dowse, Ltd., as though years of seeing it and wondering when and why it had closed had long ago gotten old and gone out of style. A single dummy dressed in outdated clothes sat in the display window. I walked up to it and nearly leaned completely against the glass.

"I'm here to see Severus Snape," I whispered. After a moment, the dummy gave a tiny nod and beckoned to me through the window. I didn't need telling twice – I stepped right through the glass into the hospital lobby. I ignoring everybody there, although I glanced around to make sure that Mary wasn't there, for she was sure to know that I wasn't supposed to be there. Instead, I walked straight up to the stairs, which were down a short hallway, and up to the fourth floor. I already knew he'd be there, I just had to find the right room.

I walked up to the Mediwizards' station and waited for one to acknowledge me.

"Hello, could I help you with something?" 

"Could you tell me which room Severus Snape is in?" The Mediwizard frowned.

"Can I ask how you are related?"

"He-he's just a close friend," I replied, wondering why they had asked. "A _really_ close friend," I added. The Mediwizard smiled slightly at me, although it was obviously one of those "I'm sorry" smiles.

"I'm sorry, miss," he said, and he really did sound sorry, "but I can't tell you." I stared at him.

"What?" It was all I could say. I was pretty shocked.

"That is classified information, Mr. Snape only wants family members and Albus Dumbledore to be allowed to know." _Shite, Sev, why'd you have to do this to me?_ I groaned, but I knew what to do. The Mediwizard smiled one final time at me before turning around, but I quickly called,

"Wait!" Irritated, he turned back to face me. "I-I lied," I said quietly, looking down at my hand and twirling my ring.

"You lied?" he asked in disbelief.

"Sev is actually my-my fiancé." I lifted up my left hand and showed him the ring.

"You're _fiancé?_ Then why didn't you know what room he was in?"

"Well, you see, I was away in Paris on business for a whole month," I invented quickly, messing with my ring again. "I came home today to find my best friend telling me that he was hit by a terrible curse and he was here. You see, our relationship is kind of secret, at least our engagement is, which is why I said that he was just a close friend when you first asked. Has he been asking for me?" I added quickly, trying to sound worried.

The Mediwizard still looked skeptical, but he said, as he motioned for me to follow him down the hallway,

"Well, he's hardly said anything yet. He just woke up a few days ago, and has only spoken to Albus Dumbledore when he came to visit." He led me past several doors, through which I could see other Mediwizards and Healers leaning over their sick patients.

"How's Sev doing?" I asked as we kept walking.

"Oh, Mr. Snape has been awake several times the past few days. We've gotten most of the internal damage fixed, he should be ready to leave in about a week or two." He opened the door to one of the rooms and led me in, past two curtained beds to the third curtained bed. He pulled the curtains back and said, "Mr. Snape, your fiancé's here to see you."

"My fiancé?" Sev asked, sounding confused. The Mediwizard nodded slowly, turning around and motioning to me to come forward. Severus looked extremely confused as I shuffled forward, but I motioned for him to be quiet until the Mediwizard was gone. Once he was, Severus turned to me.

"What did I do to make you my fiancé? Sorry, but, I think you and Regulus go better together – "

"Oh shut up," I said, sitting in the only chair beside his bed, "I had to tell them that, or they wouldn't let me come see you." I frowned and then added quickly, "Which, by the way, they say is your fault. You really shouldn't have it so only Dumbledore and family members can visit you."

"You're not supposed to be here," Severus said, suddenly stern, "are you?"

"Well – "

"Don't lie."

"Okay,_ fine_, I'm not supposed to be here!" I exclaimed, standing up again and running my fingers through my hair as I paced back and forth by the bed. "But I have an excuse! I don't like being cooped up in Hogwarts with nobody to tell me what's going on! I need to be out on the battlefield. Nobody will tell me what's going on. Even _Regulus _won't tell me when he comes there at the end of the day. I bet even _you _know more news than me."

"Well, I know about your dream about our dear friend Bella. I know that Dumbledore has three spies – although who they are, he refused to say – only one of them is actually hanging around the Death Eaters right now, though. I also know that Voldemort _hasn't _come back to life yet, and that only Bella seems to know how to bring him back because the spy claims that nobody else seems to know."

"Who the hell are his spies?" I asked, sitting back down.

"I have no idea," Severus said, looking as though he were deep in thought.

"I bet, maybe, one of them is Draco Malfoy," I said thoughtfully.

"That makes sense," Severus said, "and maybe one of the Aurors?"

"I don't think any of the Aurors would want to go undercover, or even have what it takes. They all had families that were torn apart by Death Eaters or Voldemort himself, or else were somehow inflicted in pain by one of them, and they don't want to go anywhere _near _them let alone pretend to be one of them."

"Has Dumbledore reformed the Order?" I shook my head slowly.

"As far as I know, no. I don't know anything, though, so I have no idea." I groaned, putting my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands. We sat in silence for a moment before Severus asked,

"Stressed?"

"Like you have no idea," I replied moodily.

"How's teaching?"

I groaned in response. "It's been only one week and these kids are driving me crazy."

"Now you know how I feel," Sev joked. After another moment of silence, he said quietly, "You should probably leave. Mary comes in about every hour to check up on me, and it's been a while since she's came. She will know that you aren't supposed to be here." I looked up at him.

"You won't tell, will you? That I was here?"

"Course not."

"Thanks Sev." I stood up slowly. "I guess I'll see you in a few weeks when you get out of here."

On my way out, I was much more careful to try to avoid Mary. Luckily, I didn't see her anywhere. I Apparated back to the Shrieking Shack. The whole time I was crawling through the tunnel, I was debating what I was about to do. It could be reckless – maybe there wasn't anything to tell me – but it could actually be a smart move.

By the time I reached the castle, the sun had set behind it. It was past curfew. And I still hadn't made up my mind.

It wasn't until I reached the stone gargoyle that I decided – yes, I'm going to do this. "Bertie Bot's Every Flavor Beans," I muttered. The gargoyle jumped aside, allowing me to step onto the moving spiral staircase just beyond. I didn't bother knocking – what else was new? I hadn't knocked when I was angry at Dumbledore and was going to his office since before I could remember – and instead threw the door open roughly.

He was sitting calmly at his desk, writing something, He looked up at me over his half-moon spectacles, a surprised expression on his face.

"Nicole," he said, also sounding surprised, "I didn't expect to see you here,"

"Cut the formalities," I snapped, closing the door loudly and walking up to him. I put my hands onto his desk and leaned onto them so I was close to his face."I don't know what you've been planning lately," I said quietly. "But I do know is that you're doing _something _with either the Aurors and/or the Order that _you haven't told me!_ I understand that I'm younger than the rest, but wasn't _I _the one to defeat Voldemort in the first place? I should at least _know _these things – !"

"Nicole," Dumbledore said calmly. I stopped talking to glare at him. "I haven't been telling you for your safety. The Death Eaters are already going to be after you, and if you know they will be after you even more if I let you know everything that has been going on lately – "

"Do I look like I _care _that they're after me? _No_! I couldn't care less! But I _do _want to know everything that you _aren't _telling me, like who these three spies are, if – "

"Wait," Dumbledore said suddenly, sounding confused again, "how did you know about the three spies?"

"I went to see Severus," I said smugly.

"But how did you get out? Filch was told to not let you out at all costs."

"Oh, I know other ways to get out of these grounds," I said mysteriously. "Now who are these three spies?"

"I'll tell you one for now. It's Draco Malfoy."

"Ha! I totally called that one!" Dumbledore rose his eyebrows. "Sorry."

"Anyway, Mr. Malfoy has been keeping tabs on things for me and leaving notes on my desks for me. He says that Bellatrix is the only one that seems to know about how to bring our dear old friend Tom Riddle back from the dead, and that she obviously hasn't – at least yet."

"Have you recreated the Order?"

"Not yet," Dumbledore replied. "I've been working on it, but haven't yet. And to answer one of your previous questions, but I haven't been doing anything with the Aurors. I do know that they have some Aurors looking for any other places that the Death Eaters may be using as Headquarters for when Severus gets better and you and him go out."

"Who are your other spies?"

"Well, one of them actually hasn't started his work yet, and the other I haven't even talked to about it yet."

"Well who are they?"

"The first wishes to remain unnamed, at least for now. The other is, if they'll agree and will hear me out, _you_."

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks Hannahzzz and Duskfire1954 for the reviews!**

**Oh my goodness, it's been so long! I'm really sorry about that, but with school and dance practice five times a week, I'm awful busy. I'll try to start regular, or semi-regular, weekly updates soon, but no promises. Updates might be slow for a while, but not too slow, I hope. Sorry again! On the bright side, I wrote all of this today.**

**By the way, nobody guessed who the third spy was. Any guesses? I would love to know who you think it is. It's somebody you will know, I promise, not some OC of mine or someone you've never heard of. Guess right, and, well, I can't really tell you because I don't want to ruin it. But still, you should guess anyway!**

Chapter 7

"_The first wishes to remain unnamed, at least for now. The other is, if they'll agree and will hear me out, _you_."_

I stared blankly at Dumbledore. Was he being serious? I'd never heard him joke about something like this before. But – No, this couldn't be true. I started to laugh, thinking that he was joking but also, somehow, knowing that he wasn't.

"You've _got _to be joking," I laughed. When he shook his head slowly, I stopped laughing and instead continued to stare at him, sitting down in the chair behind me for the first time. "You've finally gone completely mad," I muttered, shaking my head and running my hand through my hair. "I always thought you were utterly bonkers, but now – now I _know_ you are."

"Why are you so surprised?" he asked calmly.

"I don't get it," I said, not answering his question. "It's not going to work. The _second _Bellatrix sees me, I'm going to be dead. _Dead_. Or worse."

"Ah, but you have to hear me out and you'll understand," Dumbledore said. I ignored him and said,

"But wait – if you didn't want me to know what's going on, and now you want me to be a spy, how does that work?"

"Nicole, please hear me out," he said. I sighed angrily, but stopped talking to listen to him.

"Mr. Malfoy may not be the highest Death Eater, but he is pretty close to his aunt Bella, who _is _the highest Death Eater – at least right now. She lets these clues slip, or he overhears her plans, so he knows things that, if they knew that he knew, he would probably be dead."

"Is Draco even ready to be spy?" I interrupted. "I mean – "

"I will answer all questions when I am finished, alright?" Dumbledore said impatiently. I sighed grumpily again. "Anyway, he was asked to do something for her one night. It was something to do with you."

"Me?" I asked, not surprised. "What else is new?"

"Shh." I frowned, but did as he asked.

"Well, you know Evan Rosier, right?"

"Isn't he the really good potions maker? Like, better than Severus?"

"Yep. Well, Rosier also has a talent for _creating _potions. You know the potion, in your other time, that brought Voldemort back to life? Well, his father created that potion."

"So?" I asked, having no idea where he was going with this.

"Not only is he the one creating the potion to bring Voldemort back – at least, Draco believes he is, that's why Bellatrix took your hair with your blood on it in your dream, it's needed for that potion – but he's creating one that puts the drinker completely under the person who poisoned them's control. Like the Imperious Curse, only, apparently, you're fully aware of what's going on, but you can't fight it at all and it's a poison."

"So she was going to have Draco give me that poison," I realized. Shit, what if Draco _hadn't _become a spy? I would have been put completely under his control.

"Yep," Dumbledore said. "They were going to have you pretend to stay on our side – and if Draco told you not to, you wouldn't have been able to tell us what was going on – but really be on their side."

"Shit," I muttered. "What if they got somebody from our side to drink this potion? We would have no way to tell!" Dumbledore shook his head slowly – he didn't know how to keep that from happening. "I guess we could all take a page out of Mad-Eye's book – only drink from our own hip-flask."

"It's an idea," Dumbledore said. "Anyway, back to the point. To make sure he doesn't blow his cover, Draco is going to pretend to give you the potion. You two are going to be working in close proximity for a while, because everything that he's told to tell you to do, you _have _to do it."

"But – "

"No ifs, ands, or buts."

"_No!_" I screamed, moving to sit on the edge of my seat as close to him as possible. "What if he orders me to kill James? Or Lily? Or Harry? Or Regulus?…I can't – I _won't_!"

"We'll have to find a way to avoid that," Dumbledore said calmly, despite the fact that I had just yelled at him. I stared at him in disbelief. "We _will _find a way, trust me, alright?" After staring at him for a moment, I nodded slowly. But I couldn't help but think – _what if we couldn't?_

"Tell me more about this potion," I muttered.

"Basically, the person who gives it to you – Draco – has complete control over your actions. However, if he doesn't forbid you from saying something or doing something, you can. It only works for two weeks, so it has to be given to you every two weeks – which is simple enough, because he can just tell you to drink it and you will."

"So wait – if he didn't tell me not to tell you something, I could tell you?"

"That's correct. The only downside – he has to actually be with you and _tell _you what to do. However, for us, that's a plus."

"So," Dumbledore continued, "say that he gave it to you and told you to Apparate to wherever they are – "

"Does he know where they are, by the way?"

"Yep, they're using the good old Malfoy Manor. It's protected by the same spells as before – apparently, they haven't realized that you and Severus could get in because you have those Dark Marks. Anyway, if he told you not to use magic, only to Apparate there, then you could not. But, if he didn't tell you not to yell at them once you got there, you could."

"Sounds like something I would do," I muttered.

"I know," Dumbledore said.

"Wait, you never answered my question – if you didn't want me to know what's going on, and now you want me to be a spy, how does that work?" I repeated. Dumbledore sighed slowly.

"I wanted to keep it from you as long as possible. I didn't want you to have to worry. You should've been out with your friends, having fun in Hogsmeade today instead of worrying about watching everything you drink for poisons like that." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh well. It seems that I was born for trouble with Death Eaters – I wasn't even born when this all started, actually." Dumbledore watched me for a moment before he said,

"Well, I haven't official asked – will you go undercover for us?"

"I have a few more questions first, if you don't mind,," I said.

"Fire away," Dumbledore said.

"When can I go back to work?"

"When Severus is better and can resume his position."

"Okay, so when do I have to go undercover?"

"So you agree, then?" I sighed – might as well. If it would end this second war that I could see coming once and for all, then I might as well.

"I guess," I mumbled. "Anyway, when do I have to go undercover?"

"I'll let you know."

"Alright. Who's the other spy?" Something told me he wouldn't tell me, but I might as well try.

"I've told you – I cannot tell you." Dammit – I should have known instantly he wouldn't change his answer from before. Why did I bother?

"What if I guess? Will you tell me if I'm right?"

"I'll just say no to everything, even if you're right."

"Damn." I paused. "Are you sure Draco can handle being a spy? Is he really ready?"

"Oh yes. I've been giving him lessons similar to the ones I gave you back in the 70s." I nodded – Dumbledore would help Draco a lot. I had only one more question before I was ready to go to bed – I hadn't realized until now just how tired I was.

"Will you stop telling people to keep me out of the dark, and have Filch let me leave? I'd like to know what's going on outside of this school, and you have people keeping me in the dark."

"Alright. I'll let them know right away."

And he did, for he sent several Patroni out the door at that time. "Thanks," I muttered, standing up, yawning, and heading for the door. But just before I left, when my hand was on the doorknob, I turned back for a moment.

"Can I tell anybody about this?" I asked.

"I would prefer if you didn't," Dumbledore replied. "Or, let me correct myself – only those in the Room of Requirement right now. And no children or students please – I'll tell Draco myself." I smiled slightly.

"Thanks."

I quickly left the room and headed for the Room of Requirement.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"There you are!" Regulus exclaimed. "I was wondering where you were." I had just entered the Room of Requirement. Regulus was the only person still up. He was reading some piece of parchment in the Common Room area. I slumped onto the couch next to him. "What took you so long?" 

"I was talking to Dumbledore," I said, leaning against him. He put his arm around my shoulders and put the parchment on the table.

"Is that what that Patronus was about?" I nodded.

"Yeah, we – we talked."

"About?"

I sighed before I started to tell him everything – starting with how Filch had denied my entrance to Hogsmeade, how I had gone to see Severus and then how I had come back to talk to Dumbledore and everything he had told me.

"No," Regulus said as soon as I was finished, shaking his head quickly. "No, no, no, _NO! _You are _not _going undercover again, I won't let you, I-I-I'll – !"

"Stutter at me?" I joked. Regulus glared at me and I shut up.

"I don't care if I have to kidnap you myself, you're _not _going undercover again," he said forcefully.

"Oh, come on, I can make my own decisions!" I exclaimed. "I am, basically, of age – "

"Actually, you're _not_."

"I will be in September," I pointed out. "That's close enough. Besides, they'll think they have complete control over me, they won't hurt me."

"Yes they will!" Regulus exclaimed, running his fingers through his hair stressfully. "You said that Dumbledore claims that you will be aware of everything – you know as well as I that they're going to torture you and then, when they're finished with you, kill you." I shook my head, trying desperately to deny it, though I knew what he said was true.

"No, they won't – what's the point? Besides, they'll probably think that making me work for them is torture enough for me, which it would be if I was really under the potion."

"What if Draco was ordered to order you to kill somebody you loved? Harry, Lily, James – _me_?"

I cast my eyes downward, looking at my hands, where I twiddled the ring on my finger in my lap as I said quietly,

"Dumbledore said we will find a way to avoid that situation."

"What if you can't?" Regulus said, his voice a lot more soothing now than before, for he knew that I felt bad. "What if you have to do something like that?" I had no response, and I continued to mess with the ring on my figure. Regulus reached over and put his hand firmly in mine, holding it tightly in his.

"Look, I understand that you think it's necessary to do this to end this second war that we _all _know is coming," he said quietly. "But I'm just worried about you. All of the Death Eaters are out to get you. You killed their leader. They don't, and won't, forget, you know that, right?"

"I know, I know," I replied. "But just think – if I don't do this, how many innocent lives are going to be lost because of my stupid decision to not be a spy? I don't _care _if it puts my safety at risk. I never have, and never will. I just care about those people who can't protect themselves, but that I can. I can't do that to them, Regulus, I can't let them die because of me."

Regulus stared at me, his eyes wide, looking as though he had never thought of that before.

"I'm just concerned for your safety. Like last time," he said after a moment of silent thought. "I don't know what I would do if you were hurt – or worse. I couldn't live with myself."

"That's not going to happen, Reg," I said quietly. "I promise." Regulus stared at me again before he pulled me into a tight hug. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his chest, wrapping my arms around his waist as well. "So who do you think this third spy is?" I asked after a moment. Regulus paused, thinking.

"Well – maybe it's Severus?" he suggested. I shook my head.

"No, Severus didn't know who any of them were, and he's not _that _good of an actor."

"Well, he managed to successfully lie to Voldemort himself for longer than you," Regulus pointed out.

"True. But still, I don't think it's him."

"Then who else could it be?" I furrowed my eyebrows thoughtfully.

"Maybe one of the old Order members. Like Remus, or Mad-Eye, or a Weasley or something. Hey," I said suddenly, "maybe it's Gideon or Fabian, or Fred or George."

"No," Regulus contradicted. "If it was one twin, it'd be the other, no matter which pair we're talking about. So there wouldn't be _one _other spy – there'd be _two_."

"Did we hear our names?"

Regulus and I looked up quickly to see both pairs of twins entering the Room of Requirement through the doors to outside.

"Yeah, but it's nothing important," I said quickly – I really didn't feel like telling any of them right now.

"Sure it is, if we heard our names," Fred said, sitting down across from us with George and Gideon. Fabian sat down on my other side, pushing me closer to Regulus to make more room for him. Regulus and I exchanged looks – apparently, we wouldn't be able to get out of this. Might as well tell them now.

"Well, it's kind of a long story – " Regulus started.

"We've got time," Gideon said. I sighed before I launched, again, into it.

"Wait, wait, wait," Fabian said quickly. "You're going undercover? _Again_?"

"Yep," I said.

"Well you can't," George exclaimed. "You'll get yourself killed!" I shrugged.

"I don't care."

"She won't listen to anything," Regulus said. "Don't bother. But if you have any idea of who could be the other spy, please enlighten us." They all shook their heads.

"No idea," Fabian said for them all. I sighed.

"Damn. I want to know who it is."

"Looks like you'll have to wait to find out. You will be one of the first people to know, anyway," Regulus pointed out. "Since you'll be undercover and all." I shrugged.

"Still. Who knows how long it'll be before that happens." Suddenly, I stood up, stretched, and yawned. "I think I'm going to head to bed. You coming?" I added to Regulus.

"I'll be along in a minute," he said.

"Alright. Night, guys!" I called to the four twins.

"Night, Nick!"

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want. Don't forget to say who you think the third spy is!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks givetherabbitthefreakintrix, Duskfire1954, and Atem and Tea for the reviews!**

**Any new guesses on who the spy is? There's a very subtle hint in here – let's see if you can find it!**

Chapter 8

The bell rang, and with it, the class of sixth-year Slytherins and Hufflepuffs shuffled out. I sat down at my desk and ran my fingers through my hair – it stressful class that had been. The Slytherins had berated me with questions about when Severus would be coming back, and the Hufflepuffs had with questions about my "other life," as they had called it.

The next day marked the exact two weeks since I had seen Severus. I wanted to go again, but Dumbledore had forbade me from doing so, and I decided that, this time, I was going to trust him and not go.

I sighed and pulled a stack of papers to grade close to me. I never knew how stressful teaching could be. I had a newfound respect for all teachers, especially those who had been teaching for years – Sprout, McGonagall, Flitwick, etc.

I heard the door open quietly and looked up to see Harry entering quietly.

"Hey Harry," I said, "I haven't talked to you for a while. How're you doing?"

Harry closed the door behind him and silently walked forward and sat on the desk right in front of me. I noticed that he looked upset about something.

"You okay?" I asked. He nodded silently. "You sure?"

"Just stressed," he replied quietly. "I graduate soon, and with the war going on – it's going to be hard, being alone out in the world for the first time during a war – "

"Hey," I interrupted soothingly, "you're never going to be alone. You've got Mom, Dad, me, Hermine, Ron, Ginny – "

"I know, it's just – different, being in school and then having graduated."

"I know," I replied kindly.

"That's why I came to talk to _you_," he said. "I mean, you know what it's like – being in your seventh year during the war, and having to go out into the world to fight right away and – _stuff_. I just wondered – how did you do it? How could you handle all of that stress, and then the fact that you were a spy on top of it all?"

"I know that I had to," I answered after a moment. "If I didn't, nobody else would – it was up to me. Was it stressful? Yes. Was it easy? No. But the best path isn't always the easiest one – as a matter of fact, it hardly ever is. Was it worth it? One hundred percent." Harry stared at me for a moment.

"Right," he said, standing up. "I better get to class. Thanks, Nick."

"Anytime." I watched as he left the room, then sat back down to finish grading papers.

I sighed as I heard the door open again, but didn't bother to glance up to see who it was this time – probably just a student who had forgotten something in the room. The door shut. But to my surprise, the footsteps in the quiet room sounded heavier than any of the fourth-years should've been able to make, and they came right up to my desk. After a moment of silence, looking at the paper in front of me and waiting for whoever it was to talk, I looked up to see –

"Severus!" I exclaimed. "You're back!"

"Yes, I see that I'm back," he replied in his usual dry, sarcastic voice.

"When did you get here?" I asked as he pulled up a chair and sat down across from me.

"Just now. I came here first, Dumbledore told me you'd be here. Of course, I had to wait for class to be over – didn't want to interrupt."

"You should have," I replied sourly. "It wasn't a very fun class." I hit my head on my desk just thinking about it and left it there.

"You looked stressed still."

"Oh, you have no idea," I said quietly, my head still on my desk.

"Ever find out who the spies were?"

"Oh, I sure did, and you're going to find this interesting," I said, sitting up again quickly. "Well, I found out who _two _of them are. One was Draco Malfoy – which I totally called, by the way – and the other was, wait for it – _me_." Severus stared at me, at first thinking that I was joking, and then looking confused.

"_You?_ Have you and Dumbledore gone mad?"

"Well, Dumbledore's completely bonkers," I replied. He rolled his eyes and said,

"Anyway, this isn't going to work! Bellatrix will kill you as soon as looking at you."

"Oh, you should know Dumbledore better than that," I said smoothly. "He has a plan." I quickly told him everything that Dumbledore had told me. Severus listened intently, but when I was finished, he still didn't seem convinced that it would work. "What?" I asked, annoyed.

"Well, don't you think that, as soon as you go undercover, they're going to torture and kill you?" I shrugged.

"I know," I replied, getting up and pacing behind the desk. "I know, I know, _I know!_ You're not the first to tell me. But isn't it worth the risk? Isn't it worth risking your life, in case it _does _work, for all those other lives that you could be saving? I could simply tell Dumbledore where they're planning to attack and save tons – hundreds, maybe even – of innocent Muggles and wizards alike. Do I think they'll torture me? Yes. Do I think they'll _kill _me? No. They know how powerful and influential I can be – "

"No need to brag," Severus muttered. I shrugged.

"I'm just saying it as it is, you know. Anyway, they know how helpful it can be to have a spy, even if the spy isn't _really _on their side and is being _forced _to tell. _You_ know how helpful that can be as well."

"Helpful for _them_!" Severus exclaimed. "How is it helpful for us if you're off telling them _everything _with no choice?"

"I had to tell them everything last time as well, remember?" I replied calmly, still pacing the room. "But we still managed to win the war. We can do it again – but not if we don't have enough spies."

"Isn't Draco enough?"

"No," I answered. "Remember last time? Both you and me had to be spies for them, and even then we didn't know everything."

"But there's that other spy – him (or her) and Draco should be enough!"

"Come on, Sev, just accept it," I said smoothly, stopping my pacing right in front of him and leaning my palms onto the desk so I was leaning forward slightly. "The Order needs me to go undercover, and I'm doing it, whether you and Regulus and anybody else like it or not." Severus sighed but tried to fight it no more as I sat back down. Finally, after a moment of silence, Severus asked,

"Have you told Lily and James yet?"

"No, and I'm not looking forward to telling them."

"Of course you're not," he replied quietly. "You know that, since you're underage, they can forbid you from going, right?"

"Well, they can try," I said, "but they can't stop me. If I have to, I'll lie and say that I won't go undercover, and then do it anyway, I'm sure if Dumbledore talks to them, they'll be convinced. But it'll take time." I paused. "Yeah, I should probably tell them soon."

"Might be a good idea." We sat in silence for a moment before Severus asked, "Where's Regulus?"

"At work. He's almost _always _there. It's a bit annoying, really." Suddenly, I realized something. "Hey – if you're back, that means I should be able to go back to work tomorrow!"

"And I guess then you and I will probably have to search for the Death Eater hideout tomorrow too," Severus pointed out.

"Wait – if Draco told Dumbledore that they're using Malfoy Manor, then do you think that you and I will have to go anyways?"

"I don't know," Severus said slowly. "But we should probably find out. How about tomorrow, you and I will go check with Sirius?"

"Why not now?" I suggested. "That was the last Defense Against the Dark Arts class for the day. You don't even have to tell Dumbledore that you're back – unless you have already, of course – "

"I haven't," he interrupted.

"Well then we can just go straight to the Ministry right now," I said, quite loudly to be honest.

"But if Dumbledore knows that they're using Malfoy Manor, why do we need to go?" Severus said suspiciously. I shrugged innocently, but it didn't work. "You just want to go now so that you can prove that it's time for you to go back to work, don't you?" I shook my head quickly.

"No – "

"Yes you do – "

"Fine, I want to go back to work, is there something wrong with that?" I asked feverishly – hey, he had pissed me off, how else was I supposed to react? "I actually _like _my job, I _want _to help catch the Death Eaters – at least until I have to go undercover – "

"Which I still think is a terrible idea, no matter what you say," Severus said.

"What? You seemed fine with it a few minutes ago!" I exclaimed, confused.

"Yeah, well, I'm indecisive."

"I've noticed," I grumbled. "Anyway, come on, let's go!" I got up quickly and led the way to the Room of Requirement. I didn't need to look behind me to know that Severus was following – even if he hadn't been so keen on it before, I knew that he would come if I left him no choice. Once there, I opened it to the place we had been staying, and walked right up to the fireplace.

"What is this place?"

"The Room of Requirement," I said, throwing some Floo Powder into the fire and pulling Severus in with me and Flooing us to the Ministry.

"Well I know _that_," he exclaimed as I led the way down the busy Atrium. "I meant what was that room? You seemed really familiar with it."

"Oh, that's where those in the Order are staying. There are side bedrooms off of it for everybody who doesn't have one in Hogwarts. I don't know where everybody that's staying there was – Scarlet, Mad-Eye, Lily, Mary – usually, unless it's nighttime, it's really busy in there," I explained.

"Oh," was all he said as I threw the doors open to the Auror Headquarters. Nobody bothered to look to see who had come in, so I led the way over to Sirius's cubicle, where he was talking quickly and quitely to Ethan Humphrey, one of the other Aurors.

"Sirius," I said loudly as I stopped beside his cubicle, Severus right behind me. "Sev got out of St. Mungo's, so this means I can come back to work now." I paused. "Do you still want us to check out the Death Eaters' usual hideouts?"

"Of course," Sirius said, "why wouldn't I?" 

"Uh," I said, deciding to lie. "I don't know," I lied quickly, hoping Severus would get the point quickly – if Dumbledore hadn't told Sirius yet, I wasn't planning to. "I was just making sure."

"It'd be great if you would go now. Just check any places that you find them likely to be – places like Malfoy Manor." He suddenly turned to the cubicle next to his – James'. "Hey, James, could you lend Snape and Nicole the Invisibility Cloak? They're going to look for the Death Eater hideouts and could use it."

"Sure," James relied, throwing us the invisibility cloak. Severus caught it and tucked it into his robes.

"Alright, thanks." I started to leave, but then I realized something. "Hey," I said, turning back to Sirius. "Where's Regulus?" 

"Oh, I sent him home early, he's been overworked lately," Sirius replied absentmindedly, turning back to his conversation with Ethan as Livia Lebron joined in it. I thought about contacting Regulus to let him know what was going on, but decided not to waste time with it. This time, Severus led the way out of the Atrium and Apparated us both to the outside of Malfoy Manor.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, confused.

"We might as well get in and see what's going on," he explained. He threw the Invisibility Cloak over both of us. He put his hand up against the lock and it sprung open. We entered together and Severus led the way to the Manor, opening the door just enough for us to slip through.

The Entrance Hall was deserted. "This way," Severus whispered to me, pulling me toward where I knew the Drawing Room where most of the Death Eater meetings were held.

The door was slightly ajar – just enough for Severus and I to slide through it unnoticed by the few Death Eaters inside. I recognized Draco, Bellatrix, Lucius Malfoy, and Evan Rosier. There was another there, but whoever it was had their cloak pulled low over their head so it was made nearly impossible to tell who it was. They were gathered around a huge cauldron, large enough to fit several full grown people inside, with a boiling potion in it. There was another, much smaller cauldron in the far corner. It, too, had a boiling potion in it.

"What are they doing?" Severus mouthed to me. I shrugged, but I was fairly certain that I knew what was going on.

"Do you have the final ingredient for today?" Rosier asked. Bellatrix silently put something so small into the huge cauldron in front of them that I couldn't tell what it was – at least, until Bellatrix said, so quietly that Severus and I almost couldn't hear or understand her,

"Blood of the murderer, unknowingly taken."

Now I _knew _what was going on.

I felt my eyes widen and was about to turn to Severus when the potion boiled more – so much that it almost boiled over. Smoke enveloped the room. The three Death Eaters and Draco started to cough just as the smoke entered my lungs. I tried to not cough – luckily, Severus was smart and pulled me quickly from the room. We waited just outside the door, where we could hear but couldn't see.

"How long before – before it happens?" Bellatrix asked.

"Exactly 24 hours," Rosier answered.

"We can all meet back here tomorrow, same time as today," Bellatrix said. The door was suddenly pushed open and Rosier and the masked Death Eater left. Severus and I pressed ourselves up against the wall as they passed.

"Draco," Bellatrix said once she was sure they were gone. "Make sure that Sawyer – well, Potter, actually – gets three drops of this in her drink by tomorrow. It would make for a nice – _gift _– for her to be here at the rebirth." I swallowed – thank Merlin Draco was on our side.

"Of course," said Draco's muffled voice.

"Let's get out of here," I said shakily to Severus, quickly leading the way back to the Entrance Hall and out of the gates.

"What the bloody hell was all of that about?" Severus questioned as we walked through the forest surrounding the Manor to find a spot to Disapparate from. "Rebirth of _what_?"

"I told you, didn't I?" I asked.

"I don't have a very good memory, I had a lot of drugs in me at the time," Severus grumbled. I stopped walking and he turned around to face me. "What?"

"They meant the rebirth of _Voldemort_."

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to Blizzen who left an anonymus review!**

**OMGOSH! I'm sorry for the time it took me to update! I deserve no reviews it. I apologize again for the long wait! I really have no excuse for it.**

**Alright, I still want any new guesses on the spy. You will probably find out who it is next chapter, if not, then the one after that. But I want to know who you think it is, if you haven't told me already or have changed your guess. So, guess! Now!**

**Anyway, on to the story! I hope this makes up for the wait! Review this time, though, and I'll try to update faster! The more reviews I get, the more likely I am to update ASAP!**

Chapter 9

"_They meant the rebirth of _Voldemort_."_

Severus stared at me, his eyes widening with every second that we stood there.

"What – no! You mean – that potion – ?"

"It will bring Voldemort back to life, yes," I replied, somewhat quietly.

"But that's impossible," he tried to reason. I shook my head and opened my mouth to reply, but he cut me off. "Nobody can come back from the dead unless the Resurrection Stone is used, which Dumbledore buried some place only he knows."

"You know how Evan Rosier is amazing at potions?" Severus nodded slowly. "Yeah, well, apparently he can _make _potions too – as in, like, creating them. And he created one to bring Voldemort back. He's also the one who created the one that Draco's supposed to give to me."

"But – "

"There are no ifs, ands, or buts about. This time tomorrow, Tom Riddle is going to be brought back to life, and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

"Surely we can, you know, go back there and – "

"Do you really think they're that stupid? Bellatrix probably had it moved someplace secret and has several people guarding it."

"So you're just going to _let _this happen?" he asked, bewildered. "Of all people, Nicole, I would never have thought that _you _would act so – so – _nonchalant_ about this! After everything you did, everything you went through, everything that _everybody _went through to kill him in first place, you're just going to do nothing to prevent him from coming back alive?"

"What can I do to stop it?" I asked. "If anybody goes there to try to get rid of the potion, then I _know _they'll get caught. And if they get caught, they'll find out there's a spy among them. Draco and whoever got caught will probably be killed, and whoever the other spy is will probably be as well." Severus stared at me, something akin to contempt in his eyes.

"You used to be different," he said quietly and harshly after a moment. "You used to think it was worth the risk of your own life to save countless others. What made you change so much?" I sighed, ran my fingers through my hair and turned away. I hesitated for a moment before I answered.

"I've acknowledged that this time, I can't save others by getting myself and the other two spies killed," I said quietly. "On the contrary, more people would probably be killed if I died for this. I _want _to go get rid of that potion – oh, how I want to – but it won't help. This war, it – it hasn't even begun yet; believe me, I know. And I'm one of the few people willing to openly stand up to Voldemort and the Death Eaters, one of the few willing to make a difference, and if I died before the war even began...who's to say the light side would win the war in that case?"

"Who's to say we'll win the war anyways?" Severus questioned, but not as harshly as he had been before. "Even if you didn't do it and weren't killed? How do you know we'd win then?" I sighed again.

"I don't," I answered honestly. "I just...hope. That's all you can do at a time like this. You can never give up hope and stop believing you'll win, because then you'll loose for sure."

"Nicole...I shouldn't have been so harsh. I'm sorry," Severus said quietly. I heard the crunch of a few leaves as he stepped toward me a few steps and put his hand on my shoulder – I still had my back turned to him. "I just...it's hard to realize that there's nothing you can do to stop it for the first time." I sighed deeply yet again.

"I know," I replied, nodding. "We better get going."

"To the Ministry first?" Severus asked.

"You can go back to Hogwarts to tell Dumbledore, he's got to know as soon as possible, I'll go to the Ministry to alert Sirius. I won't tell him everything – just that their hideout is Malfoy Manor. If Dumbledore wants them to know anything else, he can tell Sirius personally."

"Alright," Severus said uncertainly. "See you soon, then."

"See ya." I waited for him to Disapparate before I Apparated to the Ministry.

Somehow, it was already late. The atrium contained only a few witches and wizards, most of which were on their way out or the night guards. I called hello to Louis Devlin as I passed him, as well as Casper Proudfoot and Valaria Lawson – they were all fellow Aurors. I saw Kingsley speaking to somebody I didn't recognize in what appeared to be a quiet, urgent voice. I didn't interrupt and instead threw the doors open to the Auror headquarters.

Only Frank, Alice, James, Tonks, Sirius, and the Prewett twins were still there. They seemed to be discussing something with one another around Sirius' and James' cubicles. Frank, who was speaking when I had entered, hushed and they all watched me until the door closed firmly behind me.

"Hey," Sirius said as I approached, pulling up a nearby chair and slumping into it between Fabian and Tonks. "Where's Snape?" 

"I didn't think you needed two people to deliver the news," I replied, "so I sent him to go talk to Dumbledore. He hasn't been to see him since he got out of the hospital."

"So what's your news, then?" Alice asked.

"They're using Malfoy Manor again," I answered. "I don't know how they didn't realize that we would figure it out, but we did. We didn't find out much before we left – Bellatrix and Evan Rosier were brewing some type of potion, we couldn't find out what it was exactly, and they either do or think they do have a spy among us."

"_Us _as in the Aurors, or – ?" Frank started to ask.

"I don't think so," I said, cutting him off. "I think it's somebody who was or plans on becoming a part of the Order if it's remade." They all groaned. Tonks ran her hand through her hair. One of the Prewett twins whistled low. We sat in silence, each stuck in our own thoughts, before suddenly a silver phoenix came through the window. Dumbledore's voice floated out,

"Everybody who is there that is in the Order needs to come to the Room of Requirement as soon as possible. We have some huge news that needs to be shared with everybody."

"I guess that's us," Gideon said, helping Tonks to her feet as the phoenix disappeared in a wisp of smoke. "Can you still Floo?" he asked Tonks. She nodded. "Good, that's the only way to get directly to the Room of Requirement." They started to head toward the door.

"What's that about?" James asked, turning to me. Everybody else turned to look at me, and Gideon and Tonks stopped just short of the door. "You do know, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," I replied after a moment of hesitation. "But obviously, Dumbledore wants to tell you, so I'm going to let him. You can wait for a few minutes, can't you?" They all sighed, but said nothing more as we headed out. As I was leaving, I heard somebody up ahead call,

"Whoever is last out, could you close up please?" I was last, so I waved my wand and the lights went out and the door shut and locked behind me.

Our long procession made it's way down to the Atrium, which was now completely empty except for the three night guards, who paid no attention to us, and then to the fireplaces. Gideon went first, followed by Tonks and the rest. I, once again, was last. I said the words and flew into the Room of Requirement.

As I stood up and brushed myself off, I observed the scene in front of me. The armchairs and couches had disappeared, and instead a long table lined with wooden chairs, most of which were full, sat in the middle of the room. Aside from the Aurors who, like myself, had just arrived, I saw Dumbledore, Draco, Severus, Mary, all of the Weasleys (including Ron, Ginny, and Fleur), Scarlet, Remus, and Hermione gathered around the table. Mrs. Weasley was arguing with Mr. Weasley. I heard her saying that Ginny and Ron were too young, but he said that Ron was of age and Ginny was almost and therefore they old enough to be there. Alice was saying the same about Johnny and Neville, whom I had just noticed, but had already been convinced by Frank to let them stay just to hear what Dumbledore had to say.

However, Lily and James weren't so happy about Harry being there.

I hadn't noticed them before. I had been too busy watching Mr. and Mrs. Weasley (she was now saying, "They still have _school_ to worry about, Arthur! They need to graduate before they can be in on stuff with the Order so they're not distracted!") to notice Lily yelling at Harry to leave.

"No! I will _not _hear of it!" Lily yelled. She was standing up, facing Harry, whose back was to me, and pointing to the door.

"It's just a _meeting_, Lily," James said obviously, trying to calm her down. She continued to glare at Harry though she directed her next words to James.

"First it's a single meeting," she snarled. "Then he'll be wanting to come to the rest of them! Then he will want to do small things for the Order! Then he'll ask to go to the battles! _Then _he'll ask to be a spy, which _I – will – not – have!_"

She's just going to _love _it when I tell her that I'm going to be a spy again.

While Lily went on yelling at Harry and James, I slipped around to the other side of the table and pulled the seat beside Draco out, quietly sitting in it.

"How long has this been going on?" I whispered.

"Since she saw him here. About five minutes ago," he replied, also in a very low voice.

"Where's Regulus?" I asked, looking around in case I had missed him. Draco shrugged, too busy watching Lily and James to probably even realize what I had asked. I sighed, watching Harry retaliate to Lily's latest defense, when the fire in the fireplace turned green, and soon Mad-Eye stood amongst us, Kingsley not far behind.

Only I seemed to notice.

It wasn't until the door opened and Hagrid, McGonagall, and Regulus entered that anybody else seemed to notice. Even then, it was only Dumbledore, Severus, and Draco who noticed. Hagrid stopped in his tracks, watching Lily threaten Harry, McGonagall headed over to Dumbledore, and Regulus made his way to me.

"Where've you been?" he asked me. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Severus got out of St. Mungo's, so we went to the Ministry to talk to Sirius, and – "

"Lily, James, Harry, if I could ask you all to stop and listen," Dumbledore said suddenly over the ruckus. I motioned to Regulus that I'd tell him in a moment and he sat down in the empty seat beside me and Charlie Weasley. Lily continued to glare at Harry but said nothing more. "Lily, Harry _needs_ to be here for this. Whether you like it or not." Lily huffed, glared at Harry for one last moment before turning to me.

Great...

"Then Nicole leaves," she said stubbornly. "She's not of age yet, I can tell her what to do." I had sudden inspiration as I shrugged.

"Fine," I replied, standing up slowly. "I'll leave."

"Nicole – " Dumbledore started, but I cut him off.

"It's not like it matters if I hear what he has to say or not," I said, smiling innocently at Lily, "because I already know. As a matter of fact, _I _was the one who told him...well, sort of. I was the one who found out." Lily huffed and slumped into a seat beside Mrs. Weasley, who seemed just as upset. I was starting to not feel so apprehensive about telling them how I was a spy again. If I got through that so easily, surely it wouldn't be too hard to get through telling them how I'm a spy...right?

"Now, if everybody else could please take a seat," Dumbledore said. Those who were still standing found empty seats quickly. I noticed Harry purposely take a seat as far away from Lily as he could. His eyes met mine – I gave him a slight encouraging smile. He stared blankly at me.

How nice.

"Alright, is everybody here?" Dumbledore asked. I turned back to face him. Several people nodded. "Good.

"Now, you are all well aware of the recent situation – the Death Eater escape, Severus being injured and in St. Mungo's, Nicole taking over as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher until he recovered. I have more news on this topic, but first – we need to talk about spies. We don't need volunteers – we already have three, which is quite enough. Two will remain unnamed for the time. The other is Draco here."

"_Malfoy_?" Harry asked. I turned to him. He had his eyes narrowed as he stared at Malfoy. "You really think _he_ can be trusted?"

"Do you not trust Dumbledore?" I asked him, interrupting whatever Dumbledore was about to say. "Or me? We both trust Draco, so you should as well."

"I just think it's strange that he comes from a Voldemort-loving family and you trust him as easily as you trust everybody who was in the Order and _proved themselves _last time," Harry replied snobbishly.

"Harry, we trust Draco," I replied. "Remember Severus in my original life? How we all doubted him despite the fact that Dumbledore told us that he trusted him, but in the end it turned out he was on our side? If that's how it's going to be like with Draco, then you really learned _nothing _by hearing of past mistakes made by the very people in this room." Harry opened his mouth to reply, but McGonagall cut him off – thank Merlin, I don't know if I could deal with fighting with Harry like Lily was at the moment.

"Now is not the time, Harry, Nicole," she said quickly. "If you must argue, do it on your own time, not on the rest of ours." We both shut up and let Dumbledore continue.

"As I was saying," he said, his eyes twinkling at Harry and I, "Draco is one of the three spies. One of the others will be named later tonight, the last will not be named at all yet." I felt the eyes of the people who knew that I was one of them on me, but ignored them as Dumbledore continued.

"Draco had informed me a while ago that the Death Eaters were using Malfoy Manor as their hideout again. He also told me that Bellatrix Lestrange was having Evan Rosier create two potions. The first puts the drinker completely under the person who poisoned them's control. It's a lot like the Imperious Curse, only you're fully aware of what's going on, but you can't fight it at all and it's a poison. However, if the poisoner doesn't forbid you from saying something or doing something, you can. It only works for two weeks, so it has to be given to you every two weeks – which is simple enough, because he can just tell you to drink it and you will "

Several people cursed – how were we to fight this?

"Now, luckily we have two spies who can keep track of who they're trying to get this too," Dumbledore continued as though he had heard nothing.

"I thought you said there was three," Hagrid said, confused, from the other end of the table.

"There are," Dumbledore answered, "but one of them was supposed to be given this potion by Draco, so they really wouldn't know. Draco is going to pretend to give it to them and they're both going to go on as though the person really _is _under it."

"Who is it?" Alice asked.

"I'm not going to say – yet. First, we need to talk about the other potion." He took a deep breath before saying bluntly,

"The other potion was to bring Voldemort back to life."

Silence overtook us. Those of us who already knew waited for the others to speak. Some seemed to think he was joking. Others were in so much shock they didn't know what to say. More seemed to believe that was what they were trying to do but that it wouldn't work because it was impossible.

"But that's impossible," Mary finally whispered into the silence. She was staring, pale and disbelieving, at Dumbledore.

"Apparently it's not," Kingsley replied. He was just as pale as his wife. "These guys know what they're doing. They wouldn't mess up this kind of thing."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Dumbledore said. "Which is the only reason I believe it's true.

"When Severus got out of the hospital earlier today, he and Nicole went to Malfoy Manor to sneak in and see the recent doings of the Death Eaters. They snuck into a room where Bellatrix, Rosier, and Draco were. They were talking about that very potion. Rosier told Bella that in exactly 24 hours,

Voldemort should be back alive."

Yet again, his words were followed by shocked silence. Now, everybody believed him. Not that they _wanted _to – they didn't want it to be true at all. Nobody in that room wanted Voldemort back alive. They knew firsthand – or had at least heard firsthand stories – what it was like when he was here.

"I – I don't believe it," Lily muttered, breaking the silence. "I just can't believe it. I mean, I believe _you_, Albus, but…I thought, when he was killed last time, that it was all over and done with. That we wouldn't have to deal with him again. And now…now that he's coming back, it's just…hard to take in."

"Who's the other spy?" James asked after another moment. Dumbledore's eyes flitted from one person to the next around the table, and when they rested on me, they held a questioning look. I nodded at him almost imperceptibly.

"It's Nicole."

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: I deleted the previous Author's Note, so if you didn't read it, I'm extremely sorry for the wait!**

Chapter 10

"_It's Nicole."_

Shocked silence. That was all that was heard around the table. But it was the loudest silence I had ever heard.

Those that already knew, like Regulus and Draco and Severus and the four twins, all found it awkward, I could tell by the looks on their faces. Everybody else was shocked. Lily's face was red with anger, James actually looked afraid, and I could have sworn Harry's mouth had dropped to the floor in surprise.

"_You_?" Ron finally chocked out, breaking the silence. "B-b-but – _how_ – ?"

"It makes perfect sense," Remus said quietly, cutting him off completely. "Remember how Albus said that only one other spy would be named tonight? And how that spy was _supposed _to be put under that potion, but they're just going to pretend to be? That's Nicki, the one that's going to pretend to be forced to – "

"_No!_" Lily yelled suddenly, standing up so fast her chair toppled over behind her. "I will not hear of it! She's only sixteen, she's too young to be a spy!"

"Might I remind you that I was one when I was only _fifteen_? And that I was still fifteen when I killed Voldemort the first time?" I pointed out, already getting annoyed. I was basically of age, I should be allowed to make my own decisions and not have them made for me, even about things like this. I had done so before, and it sucked that I couldn't now.

"Yes, but we couldn't tell you no then," James said, his voice kind of shaky. "We didn't know you were our daughter. And it's not like we don't think it's fantastic that you're standing up for what you believe in and trying to make the world a better place, but we're afraid that you'll get hurt. When you get older and you're ready and you have the experience to deal with this kind of thing, _then_ we'll be glad to let you fight them."

"But I _already _have the experience to deal with it," I replied stubbornly. "I have even more than almost everybody here, except maybe Dumbledore. And I've been hurt plenty of times by them,I know it's a possibility, but I don't care, and if you haven't noticed, despite all of those times that I was hurt, I'm alright now."

"But what if you're not so lucky this time around?" Sirius asked. James had calmed down now, and had sat Lily's chair back up for her, which she had sat back down in grumpily.

"It's a risk, I know, but it's a risk I'm willing to take," I said.

"You're the one who put her up to this," Lily said suddenly and sternly. When I turned to face her I saw that she was staring angrily at Dumbledore, who nodded slowly and solemnly.

"I have to be honest – I did put her up to this," he replied after a moment, bowing his head. "Even she wasn't up for it at the time, but – "

"Then why are you making her do it?" Alice asked, raising her voice. "If she doesn't want to do it, then – !"

"But she now understands exactly why she has to do it, and she has agreed," Dumbledore interrupted.

"_That_ is your divine plan for getting rid of Voldemort again? Sending _children _among the Death Eaters?" Lily yelled. "Don't think that Draco isn't a child – he's only 17, barely old enough to make his own decisions!"

"Well we better be glad that I _do _make my own decisions, or Nicole would _really _be put under that potion," Draco replied coldly. "You wouldn't want _that _now, would you?" Lily opened her mouth to say something, but Draco kept talking.

"You don't know how much having her be a spy could help you guys. Considering Voldemort will think that she is completely under their control, he will tell her things he won't even tell his most trusted servants. That could be the most valuable thing you could _ever_ have to get rid of him. And you want to throw that away, because you want to _baby _your daughter? She's been through more than you'll ever go through – she'll be alright. She knows how to take care of herself."

"He's right, Lily," Dumbledore said calmly as I set a hand on Draco's back to calm him down, as he had seemed really pissed off. "It's probably safer for Nicole to go undercover than for even _me_. She knows how their minds work better than anybody, even better than themselves."

"Unfortunately, that's true," I muttered, more to Draco and Regulus and myself than to anybody else, but I think everybody heard me.

"But – " Lily said quietly, now sounding desperate to keep me from going undercover. She searched the faces of nearly everybody at the table. Some were looking at their hands, not willing to look her in the eyes, some met her gaze easily, others were still staring at me in shock. Finally, she turned her eyes on me. They were pleading me not to do it.

"Nicki," she nearly whispered. "Please don't do this. I'm just worried about your safety. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I _won't _– "

"You can't be sure of that," James agreed. "I know that you think it's what's right – actually, I know it _is _what's right, standing up for what you believe in – and I know that you could possibly save lives, but the chances of getting yourself terminally injured or even killed are higher than the chances that you will survive to save those lives."

"They're not going to kill me," I said matter-of-factly.

"How do you know that?" James asked kindly. "You can't be sure."

"Did you not just hear Dumbledore?" I asked him, pointing to Dumbledore. "I know their minds better than _they_ do. I know that they probably _plan _to kill me as of now, but once they have me, Voldemort either won't let them because they'll think that I can spy for them, tell them everything I know or just want me around because he'll think being stuck there will be more torture to me than being killed would be."

"You." Suddenly, Lily had rounded on Regulus, who looked shocked and confused. "You're just going to let this happen? She's your _fiancé!_ You're supposed to love her and your just going to _let _her walk right to her death?"

"You don't think I tried to stop her?" Regulus said angrily. "Believe me, I tried. Just as hard as you. I know more about what it was like for her last time than even you and James do and believe me, I do _not _want her going back through that." He paused.

"But...she's right. It could save lives. It could end the war before it even begins. I know it could also kill her, but I can't convince her not to do it. I _can't_ control her, just like you guys can't, but at least I admit it. She's old enough to make her own decisions, no matter how much you think she isn't, no matter how much you want your little girl back. And if she doesn't do it, it'll give Draco away, and that could have detrimental effects for all of us." He shook his head, looking down at his hands. "I want her to not do it even more than you guys do. But there's nothing I can do to stop her." Lily sighed, defeated, and banged her elbows on the table, burying her face in her hands.

"We just want you to be safe," James said quietly to me, resting his hand on Lily's back and rubbing it lightly. "Both you and Harry are our top priority in this war. We don't want to loose you – either of you."

"We'll be fine, Father," Harry said calmly, smiling reassuringly at him.

"You're still at school, you're not joining the Order until you graduate," James said sternly. Harry rolled his eyes and shrugged. I knew what he was thinking; "Yeah, but that's only in a few months. Besides, I'm of age and you can't control me." He didn't say anything, though.

"I agree with Alice; they'ree both _children_," Lily said to Dumbledore, taking her face out of her hands and glaring a death glare at him.

"Seventeen isn't a child anymore," Harry said angrily. I couldn't help but wonder why he was defending Draco when he hated him. "Plus, he should be almost eighteen. And I hardly consider somebody who is sixteen too be a child."

"Harry, please," James said, trying to get him to stop. He turned to me. "Nicole, I _beg _of you to rethink this – " Harry cut him off.

"Oh, leave her alone," he snapped. "She knows what she's getting into. She's obviously willing to take the risk. It's _her_ choice to make, not _yours_."

"Harry," Lily said suddenly. "Please stay out of this."

"How can I when I am also a – ?" he cut off, hesitated, his eyes wide, and then finished with " – a part of this family?"

What was that about? Nobody else seemed to notice it, or else they were too absorbed in our fight to realize it. But ever since the last war, when I had made stupid mistakes due to the fact that I didn't observe, _I _noticed it. Why would he pause like that?

He wouldn't.

Unless...

Unless he was going to say something else.

But what else would he say? When he is also a _what_? I tried thinking back to everything he'd said to me, or to somebody else that I had overheard, recently, but couldn't come up with anything.

But wait...a few weeks ago, he had asked me how I had handled being out on my own in the world for the first time during a war. And _being a spy _on top of it all.

"Oh my God," I whispered to myself, feeling my eyes widen.

Harry was the third spy.

Of course! It would be so easy for him to convince them he was on their side! Voldemort could play the, "Don't you hate your sister? Everybody cares about her, but they all ignore you. You're _nothing _to them, but join me and you will no longer be ignored. You will be valued," card, and Harry could _easily _pretend to fall into his hands. I was just worried that he actually _would _fall into his hands. He had already been mad at me before...

I looked around. How did nobody else realize that all the facts pointed to Harry being the third spy? Or else they didn't know all the facts like I did.

James and Lily said something, Harry retaliated, but I was too busy watching him to hear what. He was red in the face, probably from anger. _That's _why he had defended Draco – he hadn't actually been defending _Draco _but defending _himself_. That's why he had wondered how I had handled being a spy, and he had yelled at James for trying to get me to change my mind.

After a moment, when Dumbledore was talking to Lily, trying to get her to calm down again, Harry's eyes met mine. I knew they were still wide, and I knew that my mouth was slightly open. He furrowed his eyebrows, confused, for a moment before he realized what was going on and his eyes widened. He bit his bottom lip and quickly turned away from me.

Without thinking, I said,

"Harry, you're the third spy, aren't you?" He jerked his head back up to me as I realized what I had said. I didn't want to say it in front of everybody, but it just slipped out. His eyes were still wide as everybody turned to him. He didn't say anything for a moment, and when he took in Lily and James' horrified faces, he quickly asked, pretending to sound confused,

"_What_?"

"_You_'re the third spy," I repeated, knowing I was unable to take it back. "It all makes sense now!"

"No, it doesn't," he said quickly, his eyebrows now furrowed. "I don't know where you get that idea. It's crazy!"

"Stop lying," I said, my voice rising. "I'm not _stupid_!"

"Obviously you are, because I'm _not _the third spy!"

"Yes you are!" I was now yelling. I was pissed at Harry – he was so _obviously _the third spy, why did he even bother denying it? He was making me look like a nut-case in front of everybody else who didn't know. "Don't lie, Harry!"

"But I'm not!" Harry yelled back. "Tell her! Tell her I'm not the third spy!" He was turned on Dumbledore, who was standing and bowed his head but said nothing. That gave it away even more – Dumbledore wouldn't lie, and if Harry really wasn't the spy, he would just say it.

When he said nothing, Harry shook his head and turned back to me. "I don't know why you think I'm a spy, but I'm _not_. I can assure you that." He actually sounded truthful, and I was now confused. Surely he _was _the spy, though? The evidence all pointed to him, nobody else.

"But when you came to my office just earlier today – " Was it still the same day? Wow, it had been a long day. " – you asked me how I had handled being alone in the world for the first time _and _be a spy on top of that!"

"So?" he asked snobbishly.

"Why would you add that last part? _And_, just now, you defended not only me, but Draco as well. No offense, Draco," I quickly added before I continued, "but you _hate _him! But you weren't defending him, you were defending yourself!"

"I was defending _you_!"

"And then," I said loudly over his voice, "you almost said you couldn't stay out of the conversation because you're also a spy, but you covered it up by saying you're also a part of this family!" Harry glared at me.

"I didn't almost say that!"

"Harry, please don't lie," Lily said suddenly. "Are you or are you not the spy?" Harry rounded on her, his eyes blazing.

"I'm _not _lying!" he screamed, standing up. "Why won't anybody believe me?"

"Because you _are _lying!" I yelled back. He glared at me again before he quickly turned on his heels and stomped out of the room to the Hogwarts corridor, slamming the door behind him and leaving the entire room confused. Especially me – I don't know if I had ever been this confused.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to Blizzen and Lady Isabelle Black for the reviews!**

**This is a nice, long chapter that I feel is actually pretty good. So, if you don't usually, you should definitely review!**

After a moment of silence, I stood up to run after Harry.

"Nicole." I looked toward the source of the soothing voice – it was Scarlet. She shook her head slightly at me. "Leave him be, hun. Whether he is or isn't the other spy, he obviously needs some time to himself." I sighed as I slowly sat back down, staring at the door as though waiting for Harry to come back through and be like, "Just kidding! I _am _the third spy!"

"I think we need to take a break," Dumbledore said suddenly. "Everyone meet back here in an hour, alright?" Everyone nodded and most made to get up. A few people flooed home or to work and a few left the room but stayed within Hogwarts. I sat where I was, still staring at the door. I felt Regulus, Draco, and Severus all staring at me. I turned around and waved them off, telling them I needed to speak to Dumbledore alone. They went to talk to Fabian, Gideon, and Bill Weasley.

Kingsley and Sirius were talking to Dumbledore at the time, so I waited for several minutes until they were finished and went to talk to Mad-Eye and Mr. Weasley. I jumped at the chance before anybody else could.

"Professor – "

"I've told you to call me Albus," he said distractedly, watching Scarlet, Mary, and Lily playing with Daniela, Leah and Parker, who had just been brought in. Daniela must have been babysitting in the other room.

"Albus," I corrected. "Please, tell me –" I lowered my voice, looking around to make sure nobody was listening. They weren't. "Is Harry the third spy or not?" He turned to look at me finally.

"Whether he is or isn't the spy, the third spy will come out when they're ready." He turned to watch Sirius, Remus, and James now. I stepped to the side to block his view – even though he was taller than me, I blocked his gaze enough for him to turn to look at me.

"Look, he's my brother. I won't tell anybody. Just...tell me. _Please_." He shook his head, smiling ever-so-slightly at me.

"I've already told you that I promised I wouldn't tell. Go talk to Harry yourself if you want to, but I _don't _break a promise." I sighed angrily.

"Fine," I said snottily. "I _will _go talk to Harry." I slumped back into a chair at the table. "_Accio map!_" It didn't take long for the map to fly onto the table. I opened it and said, "_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_." I saw his name almost instantly – he was on the nearest staircase, probably sitting, not moving, sulking. I stood up and walked to the door, looked around to make sure nobody was watching and slipped out at the moment when everybody had their back turned.

I saw him almost instantly. He was sitting with his back to me, hunched over with his face in his hands. I instantly felt bad for yelling at him for lying – he looked like he was under a lot of stress, even if he _wasn't _the spy – which he so obviously was. I walked slowly and quietly up to him and sat down beside him. He glanced up at me before he looked away, turning his back on me. I noticed he looked about ready to cry – or maybe he _was _crying. I sighed.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Harry," I muttered, deciding it would be best to start with something other than the third spy issue. "It's just... Worry makes me testy, and I'm worried about tomorrow, is all. Stressed, nervous, apprehensive, _scared _– "

"_You're _scared?" He looked up at me, his eyes wide and wet. "You always seem so...so confident. So sure, and ready for everything. So courageous and brave and..._unafraid_." I laughed humorlessly, shaking my head.

"I can assure you, I'm none of those things. To this day I don't understand how I managed to get into Gryffindor and not Slytherin." He opened his mouth to say something, looking confused, but I interrupted. "I'm _not_ brave. And Slytherin isn't about being cruel, it's about being cunning, and there's no denying that I _am _cunning."

"I can't believe you think you're not brave," Harry muttered, looking away again. "You march right into Malfoy Manor knowing you may well never come back out because you think it might help somebody. And tomorrow you're just going to show up _willingly _to watch Voldemort be brought back so Malfoy isn't shown to be a traitor. You're not even afraid of Voldemort himself – "

"_Me _not afraid of _Voldemort_?" I sighed and shook my head, smiling slightly from disbelief and looking up at the roof. "Voldemort is honestly my biggest fear. He _murdered _me, Harry, of course I'm afraid of him. But I've learned from experience that fear gets you nowhere and you have to face your fears or your just...stupid."

"That's what bravery is," Harry said. "Facing your fears. That's what you do, that's what you've always done, even before the real you came. That's why you're so brave, that's why everyone I know, even people who are older than you, look up to you so much." I shrugged. I honestly hadn't known how many people looked up to me.

He looked back up at me finally. "I _know_ you're dying to ask if I'm the third spy." I smiled at him.

"You know me too well." Harry sighed and hesitated before he answered. He swallowed.

"Yeah – yeah, I _am _the third spy," he said quietly, nodding. "I only denied it because, for a moment, I kinda hoped that it wasn't true. I hoped that I was in some crazy-ass dream. But I'm not." His voice faded slowly as he spoke the last sentence, and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Harry, you're not being forced into this, are you?"

"No," Harry answered quickly. "Not technically. I guess Dumbledore pulled the same trick on me as he did you. Made me see why it had to be done, why it had to be _me_ – "

"And why, exactly, is that?"

"Because I'm one of the few people who could convince them that I really am on their side," he answered quietly, his eyes averted again. I noticed a silent tear slide out of his left eye slowly. As far back as I could remember, I had never seen Harry cry. Not in this life, at least. I didn't know what to do.

"Harry," I said quietly, setting my hand on his shoulder soothingly. "If you don't want to do this, you don't have to – "

"It's too late," he said, his voice breaking.

"No – "

"_Yes_ it is!" He looked back up at me, more tears running down his cheeks. "I've already been to Malfoy Manor, and..." He paused before he rolled up his left sleeve.

Upon his left forearm blazed the Dark Mark.

I could only stare at it.

"Dumbledore applied the same one you have on a few days ago," Harry said quietly after a few moments of silence. "You were at Malfoy Manor earlier today, right? When Bellatrix was talking to Rosier about the potions?"

I nodded slowly as I continued to stare at his arm, unable to take my eyes off of the green, permanent tattoo.

"Did you see the masked Death Eater?" I finally looked up at him.

"That was you, wasn't it?" His eyes met mine again and he nodded slowly, pulling his sleeve back down. Tears were pouring out of his eyes now.

Never before, in either life, had I felt like the older sibling. But now I did. As I wrapped my arms around his waist, trying to comfort him, I felt myself wanting to cry. I held it in, if only for Harry's sake, and rested the side of my face on his shoulder.

"I...I'm so scared," he said quietly, the fear and sadness evident in his voice. "Tomorrow...they want me to be there. Y'know...when he comes back."

"It'll be okay, Harry," I tried to assure, even though I was about just as scared as him about that, but because I _knew _I would be tortured and maybe even killed. Although I doubted I would be _killed_. "I think when he comes back, he'll be focusing more on me, not on you." He looked up at me again, his eyes wet from the tears.

"That's what I'm scared about." I took my head off the side of his shoulder to look at him better. "I read your book, Nicki, no matter how convinced you are that I didn't and I just lied. I _know _what they did to you, and I know what they _can _do to you. You're lucky they _didn't _do some of that to you. I have to agree that it's too much of a risk – but," he added quickly, for he saw me about to protest, "I understand why you feel like you have to because I feel the same exact way. I just...I don't want to see you get hurt. You're my little sister, I'm supposed to protect you, and to not be able to do that..._That's_ what I'm most afraid of." I rested my head on his shoulder again.

"You know I love you, right?" He laughed slightly.

"Yeah, I know. And you know I love you more, right?"

"Nah," I replied. "That's not possible."

"Sure it is." I laughed a little but said no more. I had something I really wanted to say, but I didn't want to hurt Harry. But I decided it was important to tell him...

"Don't get mad when I say this, Harry, but I really think you should tell them. And either today or tomorrow before it happens." Harry sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

"I know," he said quietly. "But I'm afraid of their reactions."

"I was too," I replied just as quietly. "But you have to get it off your chest. If anything, only tell Lily and James." Only a few people, including him and Regulus, knew I still had a habit of calling Mom and Dad Lily and James. "And maybe Remus and Sirius, and Kingsley, and – "

"So basically everybody in there?" I smiled and nodded slowly.

"Basically."

"Well somebody already knows."

"Who? Ron? Hermione?"

"Regulus." I looked at him suddenly, shocked.

"_Regulus_?"

"Yeah, after I talked to you about how I 'hated' – " As he said "hated" he used his fingers to make air-quotes. "- him just because Mom and Dad _seemed_ to pay more attention to him than me, I took your advice and started talking to him more," he explained slowly. "And one day, I was upset, and everything just sorta...spilled out. He promised not to tell anybody, even – _especially_ – you." I sighed but said nothing more.

"Will you help me if I do it now? Tell them I'm the third spy? " Harry asked suddenly. "You have more influence over them, don't deny it – " I shrugged modestly, though I have to admit that it's true, "- and that's something I could use if I tell them today. And I want to. I _need_ to. So I can get it off my chest and not have to hide something so big."

I sighed. I didn't want to tell him what I really thought, but I knew he needed to hear it, though he wouldn't like it.

"I think," I started slowly and quietly, "that this is something you need to do on your own. I – "

"But Dumbledore did it for you," Harry said, sounding slightly annoyed and very upset...although that could have been left over from earlier still.

"I know, I know," I said, nodding and rubbing his back lightly and soothingly. "But – and don't hold this to me 'cause it comes and it goes – I would have rather done it myself. I didn't realize it until afterward, and even now it's hard to understand exactly why. If it gets too bad, yes, I will help you. But no guarantee that anybody will listen to me, _especially_ Lily."

We sat in silence for another moment before I wrapped my arms around Harry's waist in an embrace again, and he hugged me back. We sat there for a few moments before we pulled back and stood up simultaneously. I looked up at him and rose my eyebrows.

"Ready?" He sighed.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

I lead the way up toward the Room of Requirement.

"When tell them, don't be slow. Just do it quickly, like ripping off a band-aid." I just realized that, since he grew up in the wizarding world this time, he wouldn't know what a band-aid was. I expected him to say something about it, but when he didn't, I turned around. "Harry?"

He was still standing on the stairs. I sighed before I marched slightly angrily back to him, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him after me.

"Don't be a wuss," I said as I passed the wall three times and saw the door. I turned to face him before I opened it and took his hands in mine. "Now, as I was saying, you want to do it quickly. Don't piddle. It'll be easier that way. Just get it over with, okay? And if you don't say it right away, _I _will, and you don't want me to because I'll say something stupid and embarrassing." I wiped the few tear tracks still left on his cheeks off with my fingers and smiled up at him. "Here we go." I pushed the door open and led the way in.

Everybody turned to stare at us. And I mean _everybody_. Those who had left had come back already. I assumed it had been nearly the hour we had for break because everybody had taken their seats again except Lily, James, and Dumbledore. Lily and James were probably trying to convince him to use somebody else by using Polyjuice Potion or something crazy like that, but I knew he wouldn't budge.

I waited for Lily and James to take their seats, watching me, and Dumbledore lean his hands onto the edge of his seat before I said loudly. "Harry has something he would like to say." When he stood there blankly I stepped behind him and pushed him forward lightly. I saw him glance nervously around before he bit his bottom lip. While he stood there quietly, I made my way around to my seat beside Draco and Regulus and sat down slowly.

Harry's eyes met mine. He looked desperate, trying to get _me _to say it. I rose my eyebrows, secretly saying, "Nope, not happening. Do it yourself." Finally, I saw him swallow and close his eyes briefly. When he opened them, he blurted so quickly his words ran together,

"Nickiwasright. I'mthethirdspy." A few people, who didn't understand him, stared at him blankly. But most people understood exactly what he said. From shock, nobody knew what to say, until finally Lily said quietly,

"No." She started shaking her head, looking at the table. "No, that can't be. There must be a mistake. You and Nicole can't _both _be spies. One of you has got to be lying."

"I'm sorry, Mom, but neither of us are," Harry said. "It's the truth. And...we don't care if you don't want us to, because we both are going to anyway." He looked desperately to me, and I sighed. Here we go again.

"Harry – " James started, but I cut him off. 

"Did you ever think that the reason we told you guys was because we wanted you to be _supportive_? Did you know that neither of us planned on telling you _ever_? Did you ever wonder if you weren't the only ones that are afraid of what could happen to us undercover?"

"Then why are you doing it?" Lily asked.

"_I _have to," I said. "Remember? If I don't, Draco will be given away. And we _can't _let that happen."

"Then why is Harry?" James asked. "Isn't two spies enough?"

"No, two spies are not enough, James," Dumbledore interjected. "We've talked about how after what Nicole did to him last time, and even before that, I have come to the conclusion that it's highly unlikely Voldemort will tell everything to a single person. With two spies pretending to fight their way to be in his top ranks, acting like they hate each other because they both want the same position – which I'm sure will be easy for them to do – " Draco and Harry laughed lightly. I furrowed my eyebrows in thought as Dumbledore continued talking, but I tuned him out.

I suddenly realized that Draco and Harry weren't that different. Both were highly protective of their loved ones, they were both brave and cunning, and smart and care about things more than either cared to admit. Then why didn't get along? Oh right, because Harry was in Gryffindor and Draco was in Slytherin. So, naturally, they have to hate each other.

Well, I was going to change that.

James pulled me out of my sudden inspiration by James saying,

"I understand that you need two spies, and that Nicole needs to do it because otherwise it'll give Draco away, but that doesn't make me any happier about both of my children taking possibly the most dangerous job in the entire world."

"We'll be okay, Dad," Harry said soothingly, sitting down in his seat again. "We'll take care of ourselves, and each other, and Malfoy," he added the last part grudgingly, rolling his eyes, "and I'm sure he'll take care of us too – or at least Nicki – " I saw Draco roll his eyes, but smile at the same time. "We'll be okay, alright?"

"It just worries us," Lily added quietly.

"We know," I agreed just as softly. "It worries us, too. But you have to trust us, alright?" Lily and James sighed, but I saw them both nod slowly.

"Now that we have that all worked out," Kingsley said suddenly, "Can we get down to business before I have to leave soon to go back to work?"

"You know, during break, I was thinking," Tonks said suddenly, "And shouldn't Draco or Harry or Nicole or Severus know where the potion is? They can just go and knock it over, or steal it, or light it on fire or something, right?"

"Don't you think Bellatrix would be smarter than that?" Fabian pointed out.

"She probably has, like, ten Death Eaters guarding it, not counting herself," Gideon agreed with his twin.

"Plus spells on it that prevent that sort of thing from happening," Frank agreed. Tonks sighed.

"Yeah, I suppose you're all right."

Before long, the meeting was called to a close. Before he could slip out, I turned to Draco.

"Want to get a drink with Regulus and I tonight? There's still time before it gets too late." Regulus, who Draco had his back turned to, gave me a weird look, as if asking, "Since when is this going to happen?" I shook my head almost imperceptibly.

"Well," Draco said thoughtfully, "yeah, I suppose that'd be nice."

"Great! Meet you at the Three Broomsticks in half an hour?" He nodded in agreement and left the room. Regulus came up to me when he was gone.

"What just happened?" I was too busy looking for Harry to answer. I found him walking toward the door with Ron and Hermione.

"Hang on, I'll explain in a minute," I said distractedly to Regulus as I quickly ran to catch up with Harry. "Hey, Harry!" He stopped by the door, and Ron and Hermione followed suit. "Hey, would you like to join Regulus and I at the Three Broomsticks in half an hour for a drink just for the hell of it?"

"Well, I suppose, but can Hermione and Ron come?" Harry asked.

"No!" I answered quickly. Hermione and Ron glared at me. I grimaced at my stupidity. I would have to get used to not being stupid. "It's just – you know, some brother-sister and, uh, fiancé bonding time." Harry gave me a weird look but shrugged nonetheless.

"Alright, fine. Half an hour, right?" I nodded. He turned to leave, followed by Hermione and Ron. As they passed, I whispered so only they could hear me,

"Sorry guys, I really just need Harry to be there. No hard feelings, right?" They both nodded, understanding, but only Hermione seemed to mean it. Whatever, I didn't care at the moment.

"So now we're having a drink with Draco _and _Harry in thirty minutes at the Three Broomsticks?" Regulus asked. I shrugged and smiled mischievously.

"I've gotta plan."

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want. Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to Live25k8 for the review!**

**Sorry that this was a little delayed! My sister got married Saturday and we had tons of family in town so I had hardly any time! But I'm back now!**

Chapter 12

"So...what's this plan again?" Regulus asked. I sighed and glanced at the door to the Three Broomsticks before I answered,

"We need to get Draco and Harry to be friends, at least on a first-name basis. They're going to be working closely the next few weeks, months, years, however long this lasts, and they _need _to learn to at least pretend to get along. This won't work if they don't, believe me."

"Right," Regulus said, obviously doubtful that it would work. "And how do you plan to do that?"

"Show them how similar they are subtly," I said, glancing at the door again. Regulus sighed and shook his head.

"I can see the door, it's right in front of me, I'll tell you when one of them gets here, stop turning around," he said, smiling. "I just...I don't see how you think they're so similar. Besides, don't _opposites attract_, not...similars?"

"You and I attract and we're not opposite. And just wait, you will see how they're so similar," I said, turning back to face him. "Believe me. I realized it earlier, and now I keep coming up with more and more ways of how similar they are. It's like you and me – we're supposed to hate each other since you were in Slytherin and I was in Gryffindor, but instead we realized how much we're alike and fell in love." I frowned. "Although I hope Draco and Harry don't fall in love...Actually, maybe I hope they _do_ – I love them both – _not like that!_" I added when Regulus' eyebrows shot up at me saying I loved Draco. " – and that'd be cute!"

"Isn't Harry with Ginny, though?" Regulus pointed out. "So obviously he's straight." I made a face.

"Technicalities!" I said, annoyed. "Still, it'd be cute."

"_I_ don't think so," Regulus muttered. I frowned at him. "I was kidding," he said quickly, even though I knew he wasn't, holding up his hands in a surrender position. I continued to glare at him, but he distracted me by looking behind me and nodding at something for me to look at. I turned around and saw Harry entering the door.

"Just you wait," I said to Regulus. "Before long, they're going to be the best of friends. Not lovers," I said quickly. "I was kidding!" Regulus rolled his eyes but I ignored him by standing up and waving Harry over to our booth. He sat down beside Regulus as I said, "Hey Harry. How're you?"

"Nervous," he answered honestly. "Had a hell of a time convincing Filch to let me come. Finally McGonagall told him to let me leave."

"You should've taken one of the secret passageways," I pointed out. He shrugged.

"That's too hard." I rolled my eyes and saw Regulus, once again, nod to something over my shoulder. I turned around and saw Draco entering.

"I'll be right back," I said to Harry and Regulus as I stood up and rushed over to him.

"Hey Drake," I said, alerting him to my sudden presence, "How're you?"

"Nervous," he replied, following me to our table. I couldn't contain my smile – he had the same answer as Harry. I pulled him to a stop beside our booth and slid in. He stopped as soon as he saw Harry.

"What're you going here, Malfoy?" Harry asked suddenly.

"I could ask you the same thing, Potter." They both turned to glare at me. I smiled innocently.

"What? I didn't do anything." Regulus snorted. I shot him a quick glare and he _tried _to pass as a sneeze – to be honest, it didn't really work. Harry turned to Draco.

"Malfoy, who invited you here?" Draco looked pointedly at me. Harry turned to me. "She invited me here too. It's obvious you did _something_."

"Look," I said, sighing in defeat. Harry was too damn smart. "You two have _got _to learn to _get along _if you want to convince Voldemort that you're in league with him."

"But I thought Dumbledore said we had to pretend to hate – ?" Draco started, but I cut him off by grabbing his wrist and pulling him down beside me on the booth.

"Look, did you know that at first Severus and I were supposed to pretend we hated each other? And we thought, hey, this should be easy; we never really got along to begin with. But somehow we ended up acting like, well, not necessarily friends but like _allies _and then we became, like, best friends in real life." While Draco and Harry stared at me, digesting this new information, Regulus gave me a look. I could read exactly what he would've said if Draco and Harry weren't there,

"I didn't know you and Severus were supposed to pretend to hate each other." And I returned with a look that said,

"We didn't! I made that crap up to see if they'll try to get along!"

"Yeah," Harry said suddenly, "But you and Snape didn't _hate _each other like Malfoy and I do – "

"No," I said suddenly, shaking my head. "No _Malfoy _and no _Potter_. Here, today, it's _Draco _and _Harry_. And I will enforce that."

"How?" Draco asked, skeptical.

"You know I can," I said, my eyebrows rose. "I've use the Imperious curse before." Regulus snorted, but this time didn't cover it up as I turned to him.

"You wouldn't use it again," he said. "You told me you hated the feeling of it." I shrugged.

"You don't know what I'll do."

"Look, fine, I'll call him Draco. Whatever, it's just a name," Harry said. "But you can't expect us to become as good of friends as you and Severus in a single day."

"Don't sound so thrilled, Pot – Harry," Draco grumbled.

"_Me? _Thrilled? In your dreams." Draco glared at Harry but didn't say anything back.

"What makes you think we _want _to get along? We're so very different that it wouldn't work," Draco said after a moment.

"We'd probably only hate each other more," Harry agreed. I rose my eyebrows at Regulus, who seemed to finally realize what I was talking about when I said they were very similar and was staring from Harry to Draco to me and back again with wide eyes and a smirk on his face.

"You'll have to learn to at least get along." I sighed. "Look, I know it seems like it, but I'm not doing this to torture or annoy you guys," I said in a much more serious voice than before. "Or because I think you guys are cute together," I whispered so only Regulus could hear me. He laughed, and Draco and Harry exchanged confused glances but ignored it. "I'm doing it because you don't know what not working well together could do to you guys."

"How could it hurt us, though?" Draco asked. "I mean, if we're _supposed _to pretend to hate each other, wouldn't it be...beneficial if we really did hate each other?"

"That doesn't matter," I said forcefully, keeping my voice low so as not to be overheard. I saw Regulus quietly cast _mufliato _but ignored him as I continued. "You don't get it! The problem is you have to be able to work well together whether or not you have to pretend to like each other. If you don't work well together, then your secret is bound to get out. Even if you have to pretend to hate each other around Voldemort and the Death Eaters, you _will _have to work together privately and if you can't get along, you'll blow _everything_."

Harry and Draco stared at me, their eyes wide. I suppose they hadn't thought about the fact that probably _would _have to work together no matter what.

"We...we really have to work together even if we have to pretend to hate each other?" Harry asked. I nodded and smiled slightly.

"Unfortunately." They both sighed.

"Then, I suppose we can _try _to become at least allies or acquaintances. Or even _friends _if we can," Draco said quietly. "I don't want to blow our cover just because we couldn't get along. And, essentially, if we blow our cover, we blow _your _cover. At least, if we blow _my _cover we blow your cover. And that would suck."

"You're telling me," I muttered.

"But I don't see how you expect us to become friends in one day," Harry said quickly. "It's not like you became friends with Severus in one night." I shrugged.

"You could at least stop _hating_ each other in one night," I said. "And then you could slowly become friends, or at least acquaintances, as you start to work together. That's not all I wanted, though," I added. "Have either of you two had any lessons with Dumbledore to learn stuff that you'll need to learn to do?" I saw them both glance at each other apprehensively and I sighed, rubbing my forehead.

"What do we need to learn to do?" Draco asked quietly.

"Occlumency," I answered without even pausing to think. "You _can't _go undercover without that. Otherwise it's _so _easy for them to find out that you're undercover as well as the fact that the other one of you is undercover and that _I _am undercover. Legilimency would help too, but it's not a _necessity_. And the ability to lie and act, which I know you both have, and – oh! A Patronus message!"

"Okay, I can do Occlumency pretty well, and that Patronus thing, but not Legilimency," Draco said.

"Me too," Harry added.

"What about Unforgivable curses and memory charms?" The two stared at me with wide eyes.

"Why – Why would we have to know how to do those?" Harry asked, sounding confused and worried. "Dumbledore never told me that I would have to know how to use them."

"Dumbledore hasn't ever gone undercover though, has he?" I added. Harry glanced down at his hands, not looking pleased at the thought of using any of those four spells. "Unforgivables sometimes are necessary. I swear, before I went undercover, I cringed at the thought of using any of them. But now I understand the reasons why they sometimes are needed."

"Which are...?" Draco asked, skeptical.

"What if a Killing Curse is aimed at an ally?" I asked. Draco shrugged.

"Then you just have to let them figure it out or die and try to fight to avenge them?" he asked. I shook my head quickly.

"No! You never let somebody just _die_ because you don't think you can save them in time," I said forcefully. "_Never!_ You have to be versatile and cunning and think quickly. Try this scenario – a Killing Curse is headed at your best friend, we'll say it's _me_, and I don't see it, and, even if I did, I wouldn't have time to move. You're standing closer to me than anybody else. What do you do?"

"Er...jump in front of it?" Harry asked just as Draco said,

"Push you out of the way?"

"Neither," I answered quickly. "Well, I suppose both of those are somewhat true."

"What do you mean?" Draco asked, confused.

"You have three options here," I replied. "One: You can use some sort of spell, like _stupify, _to knock me out of the way. Two: You can find some object, like a bench, nearby, or transfigure something into one, and levitate it in front of the curse. It will burst into flames and the curse will stop. Or three: You can use the Killing Curse itself to block the curse."

"How do you do that?" they both asked at the same time.

"Come on guys," Regulus said suddenly. He was looking at them in disbelief. "You really don't know how to do that? Very quickly, you figure out where to shoot the curse to where it will collide with the other one, or the other one will collide with it. You have to be good at guessing where to shoot it to make them collide, though."

"Oh, well, that doesn't sound to hard," Harry said. "I'm sure we could do that."

"Yeah, but you have to be able to do it like this – " I snapped to prove my point. "No hesitations. Or else I'm dead. Could you do it then?" The two of them blanched and exchanged worried looks. "But you don't have to worry about me. I'm too _advanced_ to not notice the curse," I joked. Neither one of them cracked a smile. I sighed. "Look, I didn't mean to scare you. But you have to be prepared."

"Well, okay, so I understand why you would have to use the Killing Curse," Harry said suddenly, "and maybe the Imperious, but why would you _ever _have to use the Cruciatus?"

"That's the only one, I believe, that isn't _ever _necessary," I agreed. "But remember, if you want to truly convince them of your loyalty, they may ask you to torture somebody with it. And you're going to have to. And remember – you _have _to mean it. Pour all of your hatred for the person you hate most – _not each other_," I added when I saw them look at each other jokingly. They both laughed slightly. " – and try – I use Voldemort. You're going to have to. I know it sucks, but that comes with being a spy. You gotta do what you gotta do."

"What about memory charms?" Draco asked. "Why do we need to know how to use those?"

"Remember when Regulus was caught last time? When Severus and I got into Malfoy Manor to save him? And we had to have Malfoy – Lucius," I added, "to take the spells off so we could get out?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember." Draco said, suddenly remembering, "you and Severus gave yourselves away because you had to use the Imperious Curse to get Father to take the spells off of the Manor so you could Apparate away, but you didn't wipe his memory so he figured everything out."

"Exactly," I agreed. "See, there are reasons why you'd have to do things you never thought you'd do before when you're undercover." 

"Well, we can do memory charms," Harry said, "we were taught how to earlier this year."

"Good. That's something. And I can't really teach you how to do the Unforgivables, that's something you have to figure out for yourself. Just...remember, if you absolutely _have _to use them, you – have – to – _mean – them!_ Remember to pour all of your hatred for the person that you hate the most into it."

"Is that it?" Harry asked after a moment. "Or is there even more?" 

"I think that's it," I said quietly, trying to think. "I think you're ready."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was the next day, and Draco and I were ready to leave soon. Harry had already left, but Draco was to bring me with him just about half an hour before Voldemort was brought back. The Room of Requirement was empty aside from Draco, who was standing by the fireplace – we were going to floo there – and Regulus and I. He had me pulled up against him, his arms around my waist, mine around his neck, and our foreheads touching.

"Be safe, alright?" he whispered. I nodded slowly.

"I will. I know – "

"You know what you're doing, I know," he said, cutting me off. "But you always say that." I smiled but didn't say anything more as I took one of his hands in mine and pressed something small into it. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at it. "Why are you giving me your ring?"

"Because they're bound to take it," I answered quietly. "I made a worthless copy of it and – " I held up my left hand to show him the fake ring on my finger. "They'll never have to know." Upon him staring blankly at me, I added, "I'm still going to marry you, you know."

"That's not it," he said quickly. "It's just that I'm worried about you, is all. I know what these people are capable of. And with Voldemort being there...it's dangerous. I still want you to reconsider."

"And if I do, I'll give Draco away," I said softly. "I couldn't do that to him. To anybody." Regulus nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I know. I'm still worried though."

"I know," I replied. "And you have every right to be." Regulus didn't respond. Instead, he kissed me, long and gentle, before I pulled away, keeping our foreheads touching.

"I have to go." Regulus made a face but let me go slowly. I walked over to Draco, who threw some floo powder into the fireplace and stepped in, shouting, "Malfoy Manor." I threw some floo powder in and started to clamber in.

"Nicki," Regulus said suddenly. I was more than halfway in the fireplace and turned around just before I left. He looked about ready to cry. "Please be safe. I know you think you're invincible, but you're not."

Before he could really cry, and I would have to stay and comfort him, I said quietly, "Malfoy Manor" and closed my eyes tightly, blinking back tears.

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want. Please review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: No reviews? :'(**

**I forgot to add this last time, but I hope you all know that I was kidding about the Harry/Draco thing. Yes, that is one of my favorite pairings, but it's not going to happen in this FanFiction. Unless I get a ton of people telling me they want it to. Then I'll consider.**

**By the way, was that a fast update or what? ^_^ It's rather short, but I wanted to cut it off there and didn't know what else to add into it, but here it is anyway! Enjoy! **

Chapter 13

"Nervous?" Draco asked as soon as I was out of the fire and had climbed out into one of the many seldom used drawing rooms of Malfoy Manor. I looked around and saw that we were alone before I answered.

"Me?" I asked jokingly, brushing the soot from the fireplace off of me. "Never," I added, slightly more serious but still joking. Draco rose his eyebrows at me, and I sighed. "Alright, maybe a little bit...Or perhaps a lot. I mean, you know, it's been, technically, about eighteen years since I've done this." I paused when Draco said nothing. I looked over at him, my eyebrows slightly furrowed. "What about you?" He shrugged nonchalantly as we entered the Entrance Hall, headed, most likely, for the usual drawing room.

"Yeah, I kind of am." And he looked it, too. I could see it in his face. Only somebody that knew him as well as I did would be able to spot it, though, but to me it was obvious. "Or I _really _am. I mean, who wouldn't be? Harry – _Potter_ – looked pretty nervous when I saw him earlier before he left, too. Although I suppose that's probably because he's worried that he'll be asked to torture you." I smiled slightly at him.

"So, he's _Harry _now, is he?" I asked jokingly, choosing to completely ignore his last sentence. Obviously, I would rather Harry torture me than give himself away, but I thought that he probably wouldn't think the same way.

"Yeah, last night you got me to realize he's not _all _bad. I just have to remember to call him _Potter _when we're here since I'm now stuck on calling him _Harry_." I smiled, looking forward again as the door to the infamous drawing room loomed a bit in front of us down the hall.

"You and Harry are just like Regulus and I used to be," I stated. "We were in love, but we had to pretend to hate each other – at least, I had to pretend to hate him. It was quite difficult, honestly, probably one of the hardest things I had to do. But I did it."

"I hope it's not that hard for me," Draco muttered. "And I suppose we're a _bit _like that. Only, Harry – _Potter _– and I aren't in love."

"Not yet," I muttered jokingly. I saw Draco make a disgusted face toward me out of the corner of my eyes.

"_Ew! _You just _had _to ruin the moment and get that gross image in my head, didn't you?" he exclaimed. I laughed lightly as we stopped behind the door to the drawing room. "Alright, we need to get to business now," he said, his voice now quite and serious, completely different than before. "I was supposed to pretend to _lure you here under false pretenses_. So pretend I told you we were just going to check to see if there was any evidence to where they could be hiding here, and you're going to have to act surprised and everything when we go in."

"Why were you supposed to _lure _me here if you were also supposed to give me the potion?" I asked, confused. "I mean, you could've just _told _me to come and it wouldn't make a difference." He shrugged as he pushed open the door, and I walked in first.

I stopped abruptly as soon as I had entered, throwing a fake shocked and confused expression on my face.

Only Lucius, Harry (who was now unmasked), Bellatrix, and Rosier were in the room. The huge cauldron from the last time Severus and I had been there was again in the middle of the room, and the four Death Eaters (or _three_ Death Eaters and one spy) were all gathered around it, looking into the depths of it.

My eyes widened.

"Hello there, _Sawyer_," Bellatrix taunted. But instead of making one of my usual smart-Alec remarks, I stared at Harry in "shock", and he glared intently back at me. "Surprised to see your baby brother here, aren't you?"

"I'mthe _oldest_, actually," Harry snapped, looking away from me finally to stare at Bellatrix. Finally realizing some of what was going on, I whipped my wand out and pointed it at them. But as soon as Bellatrix saw and rose her eyebrows at Draco, he ordered,

"Put your wand away. And _don't _do any wandless magic, either." I pretended to try to fight it, but slowly and with a shaking arm, I put my wand back into my pocket. "Well get inside," he said rudely. He shoved me lightly in the back, and I stumbled into the room. When I heard the door close behind me, I spun around to face him.

"Draco, this is a joke, right?" I asked him pleadingly, almost hopefully. Wouldn't that be great, if it really was all joke? I wouldn't know what to think – should I be happy, or extremely pissed? I think I would be happy first and then realize how wrong it was and become irritated.

Bellatrix's high, cold laughter filled the room, and I spun back around to face her.

"A joke? _Really_? You're just as daft as your stupid _Mudblood_ mother – "

"Don't talk about my mother like that!" I yelled, slowly advancing on her.

"Get back here," Draco snarled, and I slowly took a few steps back, still glaring at Bellatrix. I spun back on Draco.

"What's going on? You're on _our_ side! And _you – _!" I turned on Harry, snarling the word "you" like I had never snarled before, taking a few steps forward. "Who the bloody hell do you think you are? The Harry Potter _I _know would consider it total dishonor to join these – these – _arses_, and would want nothing more than to join the fight _against_ them!"

"The Harry Potter _you _know left when the _real_ you came back," he snarled, glaring at me yet again. "In case you didn't notice, nobody even notices or cares about me anymore. It's always "_Nicole this_" and "_Nicole that_" and I – am – tired – of – it! I'm _nothing _to _any_body there, but here, here I'm valued for the things I do that I _should_ be valued for!"

"Look, as touching as all of this 'brother-sister bonding shit' is, we've got to get down to business," Rosier said suddenly.

"We're not _bonding_," Harry snapped, still staring at me. But I had turned to Rosier, pretending to be confused.

"Business?" I asked rudely. He went on as if he hadn't heard me or Harry.

"We've only got about five minutes before it happens."

"Before _what _happens?" I asked.

"Before your worst fear comes true," Lucius said, smiling evilly at me. I crossed my arms.

"Right," I said, pretending to be in doubt. "I don't believe that. Because of what my worst fear is, it's impossible, so I don't think it would come true. Besides, I don't know if I even _have _a worst fear. Maybe Dementors, but those are already true, and – "

"Shut up," Draco snarled. I stopped talking instantly, and pretended to look confusedly and angrily from Draco to Bellatrix to Lucius. Draco rolled his eyes. "You can talk, but no _babbling_ like you just did."

"What are you doing to me?" I asked angrily. "What's going on here? Why am I _here_? Why won't you answer my questions?"

"You're babbling again, you shouldn't be allowed to do that," Harry snapped. He turned to Rosier. "Are you sure you made that potion right?"

"What _potion_ – ?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Rosier snarled. "I'm the best potions maker _alive_, of course I made it right you idiot."

"_Will somebody explain what's going on to me_?" I screamed. Everybody turned to look at me in surprise.

"Maybe we _would've_, if you would've asked nicer," Bellatrix taunted. "Ask nicer." I stared at her, breathing deeply.

"Go on," Draco edged.

"Would somebody _please _tell me what's going on?" I asked after a moment, anger evident in my voice even though I was told to be nicer. Hey, at least I had added "please".

"Well, yes, I would _love_ to," Bellatrix said in a falsely and sickly-sweet voice. "You know how Rosier here is the best potions maker alive?" she asked. I stared at her but didn't answer. "Well, he _creates_ potions too, and he recently created one to where the drinker has to do _every_thing the person that gave the potion to them tells them to do. It's like the Imperious curse, only you _can't _fight it, and you're fully aware of what's going on the entire time. And your dear friend Draco here had the pleasure of giving it to you." I gasped and spun on him.

"_What?_" He smiled at me but said nothing.

"Didn't expect it, did you?" Bellatrix asked, laughing slightly. "Yep, that was the plan. And you see that giant potion right there?" She pointed to the cauldron in the middle. "Rosier created that too. It takes a few weeks to brew, but exactly 24 hours after you add the last ingredient, and about two minutes from now, the Dark Lord will rise again." I dropped my mouth and stared from one Death Eater to the next until I finally rested my eyes on Bellatrix again.

"No – _NO_! That's impossible!"

"So I guessed your worst fear right, then?" Lucius taunted. I shot him a silent and short glare but ignored him otherwise as I continued.

"You can't raise somebody from the dead, unless you have the Resurrection Stone, which you don't because Dumbledore buried it someplace only _he _knows. You can't – you just _can't _raise somebody from the dead! Even for wizards it's impossible, ever person in their right mind knows that." Rosier smiled at me over his shoulder, stirring the potion a few times.

"Not anymore."

"But – "

"Make her shut up, Draco."

"Shut up, Sawyer."

"Tell her she can only talk again when you tell her she can." I stared from Draco to Bellatrix, my mouth slightly open, wanting to yell at them but obviously unable to.

"Don't talk again until I tell you that you can." I closed my mouth and sighed angrily, glaring from Draco to Bellatrix to Rosier, who was still throwing smirks at me over his shoulder. I saw Bellatrix nod at Draco, who turned to me and pointed to a wooden chair I hadn't noticed before against the far wall. "Go sit down."

I walked slowly over toward it, staring at the still gray potion as I passed, near enough to touch it, unsure what to think, and sat slowly into the chair. As soon as I put my arms on the armrests, chains that seemed top pop out of nowhere and wrapped themselves tightly around my wrists. I gasped again, trying to yank my wrists out of them, but not doing so in time.

I glared at each Death Eater again as they laughed at my expression.

There was a sudden "glub" from the potion, and we all looked at it to see it bubbling, a though it were boiling. I could see Rosier suddenly smile.

"It's happening."

The five Death Eaters all stood around the large cauldron, watching. I could see it a bit, but not enough to know exactly what was going on. I know it continued to boil for quite some time, getting higher and higher and then sending out sparks of what looked like fire.

After a few minutes, the boiling slowed down considerably, and the sparks disappeared.

It seemed to happen all of a sudden. The potion itself seemed to vanish, and I could see a tall, thin figure step out of the cauldron into the sudden mist that had filled the air. I couldn't see the person too well, but that was alright – I didn't want to see Voldemort anytime soon anyway.

"Robe me," a high, cold voice said. Lucius pulled the robes he had been holding over his head quickly. "My wand," the voice ordered. Bellatrix held out a wand, her arm looking stiff. I briefly wondered where she had gotten it, but that was the last of my problems at the moment.

Something was off. Each of the Death Eaters looked stiff and shocked, and the shadow of the figure somehow didn't look right.

It was still too misty for me to see very well as the figure climbed out of the cauldron with help from Rosier. And as he stepped toward me, I realized why.

I wasn't looking up at the pale, bald, nose-less and red-eyed man I had expected. Oh no, this figure was as far from that as possible. Instead, I was looking up at a tall, black-haired and dark-eyed young man, about Regulus' age, that was actually rather handsome.

I wasn't looking up at Lord Voldemort.

I was looking up at Tom Riddle.

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want. Please review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to Blizzen for the review!**

**This would have been submitted last night but either my computer or was being slow and wouldn't let me. Here it is now, though, not too much later!  
**

**So, I _totally _came up with a brilliant idea for this story this week! I can't wait to write that part! (I actually already did write a bit of it ahead of time, that's how excited I was.) Although I'll probably either have to make this story extra-long, or broken up into two stories. But hey, oh well!**

Chapter 14

Riddle stared at me for a few moments in complete and utter silence before he looked away, examining the wand in his hands. Behind him, Bellatrix and Rosier had suddenly erupted in an argument.

"You didn't tell me it would bring back a – a _child!_" Bellatrix shrieked angrily, stomping her foot childishly.

"It must have slipped my mind," Rosier said calmly. "Besides, it's not a big deal. He – "

"_Not a big deal!_" Bellatrix yelled. "Of course it is! How can we take over the world with an inexperienced _child _as our leader!"

"Bellatrix, calm," Riddle said, turning to her. "I have all the memories I had before. _Every_thing from my past life. From graduating Hogwarts to being killed..." He turned back to me, an evil smile playing on his lips. I glared at him, but he turned back to Rosier as he spoke to Bellatrix,

"It brought him back in the body the day he turned seventeen, the day he turned of age, but his..._soul _will be that of the day he was killed."

"See, dear Bella, it really was not a big deal." Riddle – Voldemort? I wasn't sure which I was supposed to call him – seemed to realize Harry and Draco for the first time and stared at them, obviously startled. "What have we here?" he asked, staring mostly at Harry.

"Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, my Lord," Bellatrix said, obviously trying to make up for her blunder of yelling at Rosier for something so insignificant. "Both have already proven their loyalty to you and the Death Eaters and have been branded, my Lord."

"A Malfoy. Easily expected you. But a Potter, eh?" Riddle asked, taking a step closer to Harry, who held his head up high. "So, your blood-traitor father and Mudblood mother – " Harry didn't even twitch or look upset at that. He must be a better actor than I thought. I, however, glared even more at Riddle's back and wanted to wandlessly curse him, but knew I couldn't blow my cover like that. " – actually managed to make a child that wasn't a piece of shit?" I had the arms of the chair in a death grip, and, when nobody was looking, I saw Draco shoot me a warning glance. But I didn't let go of the chair.

"From a young age, I knew I didn't belong in that Muggle-loving family," Harry said quietly, his voice full of hatred that even had me thinking for a moment, _are we absolutely sure that Harry's on our side?_ But I quickly shook my head and decided that of course we were. "And, ever since the other Nicole came back and the Death Eaters broke out of Azkaban, I've realized it's because I don't believe in anything that they taught me about Muggles and Mudbloods being equal to the rest of us, and I realized I really hate them for forcing their beliefs on me." Again, I wondered if Harry was really on our side, but I again shook off the thought.

"The _other Nicole_? The Death Eaters broke out of Azkaban?" Riddle asked. "I needed filled in on what's happened since I was killed." Quickly, Bellatrix, Lucius, and Rosier explained everything; how most Death Eaters were caught, how I was sent back to this time, how Bellatrix and Barty Crouch Jr. – who I hadn't seen yet – had waited for the perfect moment before helping the Death Eaters escape, how Rosier had created the potion to bring Riddle back.

"And how, might I ask, did our dear friend come to be here?" he asked when they were finished, turning back to me and walking toward me. "Hmm, Miss _Sawyer, _how did _you_, of all people, get caught? You would think you would be more careful than to just let yourself be caught like this?" Obviously, I couldn't answer, so I just glared at him. "Are you going to answer, or will I have to..._coax_ it out of you?"

I still didn't answer.

Infuriated, Riddle took a step forward, raised his hand and backhanded me across my right cheek. My head whipped to the side, my hair flying into my face, and I balled my hands into tight fists as the sound echoed off the walls around us. That was definitely going to leave a mark.

"Why won't you _answer_?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"She _can't_, my Lord," Draco said suddenly. Riddle and I both turned to face him, my hair still falling into my face. I could see Harry staring at me, his eyes wide with fear and his mouth slightly open, alleviating all fear I had had of him actually being on their side.

While Draco went on to explain why I couldn't answer, I shook my head at Harry, trying to get him to realize what he was doing, but it was too late. Riddle had already noticed.

"Harry, why, if you are really on our side, do you obviously care so much for your worthless sister?" Riddle asked suspiciously, his wand looking about ready to lift up toward Harry. Harry and I held eye-contact while he slowly answered.

"She's my little sister," he said quietly, finally breaking eye contact with me to look at Riddle. "Just because I hated my parents for forcing their beliefs down my throat, doesn't mean I hated _her_. If you had a little sister, you'd understand. I feel like it's my duty to protect her."

"You don't have to feel that way about her," Riddle said quietly, setting his hand on Harry's shoulder and turning him to face me again. "Go on. Doing it will make you realize that you hate her, as well. I know you know the spell." Harry looked back up at Riddle.

"You mean...you want me to _kill _her?" he asked, his voice fearful.

"Oh, _no_, no no," Riddle said quickly, shaking his head. "Just the Cruciatus curse. Draco," he said suddenly, "make her able to talk again."

"You can speak again," Draco said quickly. I didn't say anything though, and instead stared at Harry, trying to look as though I was pleading him not to do it. I shook my head slowly, though if I could converse telepathically with Harry, I would be saying, "Just do it. Remember – pour all your hatred for Voldemort or someone into it."

Harry closed his eyes briefly, probably remembering my words from the night before, and swallowed before he brought his wand up toward me slowly.

"_Crucio_," he said quietly. I closed my eyes, but all I felt was what seemed like a punch in the stomach.

"Come on, Harry," Riddle whispered into his ear. "You have to _mean _it." Harry nodded and swallowed again. His shaking hand stopped shaking, and this time he yelled,

"_Crucio!_"

I had, quite honestly, never felt the Cruciatus curse this strong before. Even Voldemort himself, from the 70s _and_ my other universe, hadn't seemed to make it this strong. Or maybe I had just forgotten how it felt.

Either way, I wasn't new to the pain of the Cruciatus curse. At first, I tried to not scream by gritting my teeth together and closing my eyes to stop the oncoming headache from my blurry vision, but I couldn't hold out and somehow my screams soon filled the air. My arms spasmed and tried to yank out of the restraints, and I balled my hands into fists.

When you're under the Cruciatus curse, you can never tell how long it lasts. It always feels like hours, days, but it really has been only a few minutes. I think Harry left me under the curse for about half a minute, but to me it felt like a whole half-hour. But finally, it stopped, and I opened my eyes again to see Riddle smiling at a still frowning Harry.

"Feel better?" Riddle asked him, turning Harry to face him and setting his hands on his shoulders. Slowly, a slight smile spread over Harry's face and he nodded.

"Loads."

Yet again, I found myself wondering if Harry really was on our side. A part of me said; _Of course he is! He's your _brother_, how can you doubt him like this? _But another part of me said; _Nobody's _that _good of an actor!_

"Only one more question remains; what shall we do with our dear friend over here?" Riddle asked, slowly turning to face me. I glared at him as he set his hands on the arms of the chair I was bound to and leaned down toward me. I had to move my hands to the side to avoid them being trapped under his.

I didn't know what to say. I stared angrily at him for a few moments before I said quietly and viciously,

"You'll be dead within the week, y'know? The Ministry isn't corrupted like in the seventies, or like my other time. They'll find you easily and kill you. They have spies who will tell them _everything _– "

"No they don't," Riddle corrected. "I can tell you're lying." _Actually, I'm not_, I thought, but I just glared at him as he stood back up. "And _you _won't tell them, I'll make sure that's impossible. So really, they'll have no way to know that I'm back. I'm sure only a few classified people knew I was coming back, am I right?" he asked, turning to Bellatrix, who nodded.

"Just the people in this room, my Lord," she said quickly. "Just the few that we knew we could trust."

"And now...now that I'm back...we can take over the wizarding world. And this time, nobody will know. Nobody will expect it. And all Muggles and Mudbloods will bow down to us..." I frowned. Disgusting, that's what this was. All this shit about Muggles and Mudbloods. It was plain gross.

"Still, the question remains; what should we do with Miss Potter?" He turned back to face me, searched me up and down, and his eyes laid to rest on the ring on my left hand. "What have we here?" he asked quietly, trying to pry my fingers open since they were balled into fists. "Unclench your fists." I refused. After a moment, Draco snapped,

"You heard him! Unclench your fists!" I slowly and reluctantly did so. Riddle pried the ring off of my finger and held it up to his face.

"Well, well, well, what have we here? Is Miss Potter about to become Mrs Black?" he asked.

"Regulus?" Rosier snapped suddenly. "Regulus is dead! She can't be engaged to him! You must be delusional!"

"Dead?" I laughed. "As if!"

"Why, then, did he disappear for nearly seventeen years?" Bellatrix snapped. "His death was pinned on me. If only! I wish I could've killed that blood-traitor, Muggle-loving, family-dis-owner cousin of mine and his good-for-nothing brother!"

"Sirius and Regulus aren't those things!" I snapped, yanking my wrists again, trying to break free of the restrains. "You're just a – a – a _bitch_!" I screamed, unable to think of anything else strong enough to explain just what she was. Bellatrix's face became red with anger and she snapped her wand up quickly, but Riddle held out his hand to stop her from advancing.

"Now hang on, Bellatrix," he said, staring at me. I realized all eyes in the room were on me. "You can torture her, if you like, but don't scar her. Not physically, at least. Because we can't send her back with scars if we don't want somebody to realize something is wrong. Stick to the Cruciatus curse. And even that, unfortunately, we can't use too hard without some physical damage."

"Wait, you're going to let me live?" I asked, pretending to be confused. "Why?"

"Don't question it," Riddle snarled, "Or I might just change my mind." He turned and started pacing around the cauldron, twirling my ring between his fingers. "I'm only doing it because it will raise suspicion if you suddenly disappear. Plus, I know how amazing of a dueler you are. If we can force you to fight for our side, then we have a great advantage. Although we can't use you for dueling yet unless we want to blow your cover."

He had completed his second walk around the cauldron and held my ring in the palm of his hand.

"You can't deny that this is a pretty ring." I stared at the ring.

"You're going to destroy it, aren't you?" I asked. "Just to prove how powerful you are and how powerless I am." He stared at me, but shook his head slowly.

"No. I would love to be able to destroy it, but no, I can't."

"I will, my Lord," Bellatrix pipped up suddenly. "I would love to have the honor of destroying something that belongs to my stupid cousin. Who, by the way, is _dead_!" she yelled suddenly, turning to me again.

"Bellatrix is right," Rosier said calmly – how was he always so calm? "You never did explain how Regulus is suddenly alive and well."

"Even if he was alive the whole time, wouldn't he be, like, forty years old, and you're only sixteen," Lucius added.

"As if I would tell _you_ all – !"

"Just tell them already," Draco snapped. "You think you'd get the point – you might as well tell them the first time because if you don't, you'll have to anyway." I glared at him a moment before I answered their questions.

"Regulus _is _alive, and he isn't forty years old. He's twenty – "

"That's still quite a bit older than you," Lucius said. "If I had a daughter, she wouldn't be marrying somebody four years older than her." I shrugged.

"I'm not your daughter though, am I? Besides, if you count the three years I spent in the seventies, I'm basically nineteen. Anyway, he's alive because back before I left, I knew I was coming back, so I gave him some time-sand to use when I left. I think it was only about a week after I left that Severus mixed a potion with the time-sand that sent him to the future, and here he is. People automatically assumed that he was dead and that Bellatrix had killed him since, if you know her at all, you know she'd want to be the one to kill him."

"That is a brilliant plan," Riddle praised. "We could use a mind like yours on our team. If only that potion could make you believe what we do and make up plans like that for us." He turned to Rosier. "It can't, can it?" he added almost hopefully.

"Not yet," Rosier replied. "But we're working on it." Shit, let's hope that's impossible. "We think it might be impossible, actually, my Lord." That'd be nice.

"Damn," Riddle cursed. "Let's hope it's not, shall we?" Rosier nodded slowly as Riddle turned back to me, my ring still in his palm.

"I wish we could ruin this ring," he said, twisting it in his fingers again. "But if we do, somebody, probably Regulus, will notice. How could we keep that a secret? We don't want anybody to notice anything unusual. We want everything to seem normal. So, we will have to give this ring back to her, unfortunately." He paused, tossing it back and forth between his hands now.

"However," he said after a moment, "we _can _do something invisible with it."

"What do you mean, my Lord?" Harry asked, interested.

"We can make it a tracking device," Riddle said, setting the ring back on his left palm and using his right hand to point his wand at it. A faint glow light up the ring for a brief moment before Riddle shoved it back onto my finger. "There. And you can't take it off, either.

"Now, shall we have some fun with our prisoner here?"

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want. Please review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to Blizzen. littledhampir13, and Roseline for the reviews!**

**I wanted to get this up a week from when I updated it last...obviously that didn't happen. I've been so busy lately, and am going to be for the next few weeks. So bear with me if my updates are a little slower than they have been lately.**

**Gahh! I've had soooo many good ideas for this story lately, but they all happen later in the story! So I'm trying to hurry and get to that point, because I want to write it soo bad!**

That was horrible. I hadn't felt the Cruciatus curse in years. It's not so bad when you're used to it, but when you're not...

On the bright side, they couldn't torture me too much for fear of me loosing my sanity, or blacking-out for several hours, or even a few days. So it was only about an hour torturing session before the chains binding me to the chair unwound and Riddle had Draco order me to leave, not do any magic until I was gone (accept Disapperating), not tell anybody about anything that had happened there, and to go about things as usual until further notice. As I left, I slammed the door shut behind me. As a consequence, I was hit with another three or so minutes of the Cruciatus curse.

I Apperated right to Hogsmeade and slipped into the passageway into Hogwarts in the cellar of Honeydukes. I was out of breath. I could tell Harry had a heck of a time not cursing Riddle, Bellatrix, Lucius, Rosier, and even Draco into oblivion for hurting me. The others, except perhaps Draco, all took it as hatred toward me, and made him use the Cruciatus even more. I myself started to believe that hatred was what is was.

When I finally reached the trapdoor to Hogwarts, I had finally finished panting. It would be past curfew by now, so no students should be awake to bother me as I headed toward Dumbledore's office. Hopefully no teachers or other staff would be, either. I could just imagine running into Filch. Or Peeves. They were the last people I'd want to run into.

Or, maybe not. The person I ran – _literally _– into might have been worse. If only at that moment.

I was in a hurry, flying through the corridors without even looking where I was going. I wanted to talk to Dumbledore. I wanted his reassurance that Harry was really on _our _side. I didn't even care about what else I had heard. I hadn't heard much, anyway. They were probably saving it until after I left just in case I found some crazy loop-hole in my instructions. As if.

Anyway, I turned a corner sharply and ran right into somebody. I heard a grunt as they hit the ground at the exact same time as me, but couldn't see them because we had fallen to where the corner was obscuring us from the other's view. But then a very familiar voice spoke up.

"Whoever you are, you better hope you can come up with a very good excuse for being out past curfew."

I froze in shock.

_Maybe Filch and Peeves _weren't_ the last people I'd want to run into_, I thought as my collision mate stepped out from behind the wall.

"Hey, Severus," I said weakly. I think he could sense my weakness in my voice, for he stared at me blankly for a moment before he held out his hand to help me up. I took it gratefully.

"Hey," he replied. "What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to go to Malfoy Manor?"

"I already did," I answered. "I just got back."

"Well that was fast," he said, sounding confused and astonished. "What happened?"

"Well, Riddle came back," I replied simply. I think he expected me to say more, because when I didn't, he stared blankly at me again for several moments before he rose his eyebrows and said,

"Well duh. But what else happened?"

"Not much," I lied easily as I slowly started to walk toward Dumbledore's office. Severus walked beside me, still staring at me, without saying anything. We had been in silence for a good five minutes before he opened his mouth, hesitated, and then decided to say it anyway.

"Did they...torture you?"

"Surprisingly, no," I said, lying again. I felt kind of bad about lying, but not enough not to.

"Right," he said, obviously not believing me. "That's exactly why your hands are shaking."

"My hands are not – " I started, but as I looked down, I could see that they _were _shaking. Violently, too. "Okay, maybe they are." I frowned, tried to steady them, and failed. Instead, I just stuffed them in my pockets. Now I couldn't _not _notice them shaking up against my thighs through my pants.

"So, will you admit that you were tortured?" he asked. I didn't answer, and he took that as a silent "yes." Good thing, too, because he knows I would never admit it out loud. "How bad?" I merely shrugged. "What's wrong? Was it that bad? Did they torture Harry or something?"

"No," I said slowly and quietly after a pause. "No, it was just me. It wasn't bad. I've felt worse. It's just..."

"What?" I swallowed, stopped suddenly, and turned to face Severus. Startled, he stopped and turned to face me as well.

"Nobody can act _that_ good."

"Huh?" Severus asked, confused, after a moment, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Harry," I explained quickly. "Some of the things he said...some of the things he did...and his expressions. _Nobody_, even you, and me, especially a first time spy, can lie and act that good." Severus chuckled slightly, shaking his head. I glared at him. "_What_?"

"You honestly don't think you can trust your own brother?" he asked, still laughing lightly. I frowned, opened my mouth to reply, and was cut off. "I know you don't really think that," Severus said, starting to walk toward Dumbledore's office again. I followed a few steps behind him. I shook my head slowly.

"I'm such a horrible person..." I muttered slowly.

"_No_, you're not. You're not even close to a horrible person. You're one of the best people I know. AndI _know_ you trust Harry, one hundred percent. It's just...you were scared. For yourself _and_ for your brother and good friend. And now you're just in a strange mind because your body isn't used to the Cruciatus curse."

"You really think so?" I asked, catching up to him and looking up hopefully. Severus smiled down at me and nodded.

"Absolutely. I know you enough to know that you're not really experiencing those feelings." We had reached the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office. We stopped, turned to face each other, and stared at each other in silence for a few moments before I threw my arms around him. Shocked because I had never hugged him before, Severus hesitated before he wrapped his arms around me as well.

"Thanks, Severus," I whispered into his ear before I leaned back slightly and, just to freak him out, kissed him lightly on the cheek. I stepped away, told the gargoyle the password, and made to step onto the moving staircase but paused before I did and looked to Severus. He was staring at me still, his cheeks flushed, his eyes wide in shock.

"Did you just – ?" he started, but I cut him off.

"I was kidding," I said quickly. He stared at me. "Please don't tell Regulus," I begged jokingly. Severus laughed and shook his head. "Coming?" I asked as I stepped onto the staircase. Severus paused, looked around, and then shrugged.

"Might as well." He jumped onto the staircase behind me, and I waited for him to reach the top as well before I knocked three times on the door at the top. As soon as I had finished, Dumbledore's voice called,

"Enter."

Severus opened the door and held it open for me. Dumbledore was at his office doing some sort of paperwork and looked up in surprise as I entered.

"Good evening Nicole, Severus. Nicole, I didn't expect you for a few more hours." As I took a seat in a chair that had magically appeared beside Severus and across from Dumbledore, I looked from one to the other in shock and confusion, my eyebrows furrowed.

"Was I really that early?" I asked, confused.

"Well, you were only gone for about an hour and a half, two hours maybe, and usually when you go you're gone for about four or five hours." Severus answered.

"They must've sent me home early," I replied, shrugging. "Maybe they were afraid I'd find some loophole in the potion, or else find a way to fight it off, so they didn't want me to stay to hear the more important crap they had to talk about." I frowned suddenly. "I don't like being a spy when all I get to do is go to Malfoy Manor, go through yet another torturing session, and then come back. I don't get to know _anything_!"

"You just wait," Dumbledore said suddenly and soothingly. "Once he figures out that you _can't_ fight it off and that there are _no_ loopholes, he'll be telling you _everything_." I frowned and started to shake my head, but Dumbledore held up a finger and continued. "He's never had the luxury of being able to tell somebody everything and knowing that, no matter what, they won't tell anybody his plans or what he said because they _can't_. So soon, you'll be knowing things that even _Bellatrix_ doesn't."

"Really?" I asked in disbelief. Dumbledore nodded, and Severus suddenly spoke up.

"You know, now that I think about it, that makes sense," he said quietly. "When you were first complaining about not knowing anything, I was thinking, '_Dang, that must suck_,' but then Albus pointed all that out, and I see that your position isn't just crucial toward not giving Draco away, but you'll know things nobody else will."

"What I don't understand," I said suddenly, changing the topic as a sudden question I had had came to my mind, "is why Riddle himself doesn't give me the potion so I have to follow his orders, not Draco's."

"He'd probably think it'd be a waste of time," Dumbledore answered. "He'd have to deal with you_ all _the time, not just when he needed or wanted to. I bet, though, that he'll soon have Draco tell you to do everything he says so he doesn't have to keep working through him."

"Why do you keep calling him Riddle?" Severus asked randomly when Dumbledore was finished. I frowned.

"Did I not mention that that he came back in the body he had on his seventeenth birthday?"

"No," Severus answered, sounding surprised. "But I bet Bellatrix was pissed."

"At first," I replied. "Then Rosier explained that he came back in that body, but that he had the spirit – spirit, soul, I don't know exactly what to call it – from the day he was killed. So he remembered everything from his previous life. From graduating Hogwarts, to being killed."

"Shit," Severus cursed, "Maybe it would've been better if he _hadn't _remembered any of it."

"I doubt that it would've been better had he not," Dumbledore disagreed, sounding thoughtful. "If he hadn't, Bellatrix would probably get pissed off and kill Nicole then and there. And maybe not even just Nicole. Rosier, and whoever else was in the room, and yes that includes Voldemort himself, would probably be dead."

Severus and I frowned at the thought. He was obviously thinking and worrying about me; I was much more concerned about Harry and Draco. Had that happened...they would be dead right now. As would I, but that didn't matter. Not to me. However, Regulus did, and I just knew that if I had been killed, he wouldn't be able to live through that.

"Thank God that didn't happen," I muttered. I could see Severus nodding in agreement silently. Dumbledore paused for a moment before he asked,

"Nicole, is something bothering you? You're acting...different."

"Of course she is. She was just tortured!" Severus exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air in an exasperated manner. "I know she _used _to be used to it, but as it's technically been seventeen years, it's going to take it out of her. You should know that." Dumbledore nodded slowly.

"Yes, yes I did know that," he said quietly. "But that doesn't answer my question." I looked toward Severus hesitantly before I answered.

"Well, it's Harry," I said.

"What about him?" Dumbledore asked when I hesitated again.

"I'm worried that – that...he's not really on our side," I said quietly, looking down at my hands. I felt kind of ashamed – how could I not trust my own brother? "But Severus convinced me that he is," I added quickly, looking back up. "And, though I still have a slight doubt, I truly believe it." Dumbledore shook his head slowly and sadly, looking down at his desk.

"To be honest, I'm ashamed of you, Nicole," he said quietly.

Damn it, why couldn't he have gotten angry? That would've been better than disappointment.

"You know perfectly well how it feels to be in his position." I stared at him, slightly confused. It must have shown on my face because he explained it quickly. "To be the spy, the outsider, almost, who has somebody they love not trust them. Toward your brother, you're acting the way James acted towards you during the first war. I didn't think you would turn out to be so...hypocritical. You should be ashamed."

I didn't remember the last time I had cried. Was it when I had come back and found out that Regulus was "dead?" Even then would've been a long time ago. Yet I now felt tears stinging my eyes. Yes, I was ashamed. As soon as I had thought that back in the manor I had been. But...I had needed reassurance. Severus gave that to me. But for Dumbledore to be so upset with me...that had never happened to me before, and, after everything that had happened, I hadn't been ready to hear the things he had just said.

I was surprised to hear the chair Severus was in beside me squeaking as he stood up suddenly, and looked up slightly to see him putting his palms on Dumbledore's desk and leaning toward him. Dumbledore leaned back slightly in his seat, shocked.

"You didn't see her earlier," he snarled, jumping to my defense. "Or else you're just heartless, which I never would've suspected. She was so upset with herself for thinking that. For not trusting her own brother. Her body isn't used to the torture, and it doesn't just mess with her body, it messes with her _mind_." He leaned back, and stood there, glaring at Dumbledore. "I had barely just managed to convince her that she wasn't a horrible person, and now you just convinced her that she _is_. Come on, Nicole, let's get out of here."

When I didn't move, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me up out of the chair and toward the door. When I was about halfway through the door, Dumbledore called after me quietly. I hung back to see what he wanted, a single tear running down my cheeks. Severus tried to pull me after him, but I fought him off to hear what Dumbledore had to say.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, his eyes meeting mine. "I really am." Severus tried to pull me again, but I held on.

"By the way," I added, not telling him whether I forgave him or not. "He made my ring into a tracking device. So don't send me anywhere really...secretive."

I closed the door loudly behind me as I finally allowed Severus to pull me out of the room.

When we had reached the entrance to the Room of Requirement and the door appeared, Severus finally dropped my wrist and turned to face me. When he saw the single tear-track down my cheek, he wiped it away gently with his thumb. I refused to meet his eyes.

"Nicole, don't listen to him," he said quietly. "I understand why you would think that, he...he just doesn't understand." I nodded slowly, still not meeting his eyes.

"Yeah...I know..."

Without another word, I turned and pulled the door open and entered the room quietly. I heard Severus sigh before he followed me in.

I think nearly everybody was in the room who had been at the last meeting, besides Dumbledore, Draco, and Harry, and maybe even adding a few more. But I didn't look around; instead, I walked straight to the side-room I shared with Regulus, ignoring the fact that everybody was staring at me and that I could see Severus out of the corner of my eyes trying to get people to stop staring.

On the way over, I could see Regulus watching me closely. He was holding Scarlet and Sirius' sleeping son Parker, who had recently turned one year old. My first thought was that he looked super sweet holding a baby, but then I wiped my mind clear of babies and instead slunk into our room and sat down on the bed with my back against the headboard.

It didn't take long for Regulus to come in. I had expected him and smiled slightly at him as he closed the door quietly and came over and sat down beside me, his arm falling around my waist.

"You're back earlier than I had expected," he said after a moment.

"That's what I hear," I answered, resting my head on his shoulder. I felt him lightly kiss the top of my head before he asked,

"You seem, and look, upset about something. What's wrong?"

I really didn't want to talk about it, but before I could stop myself I was spilling out everything that had happened so fast that I was stumbling over my words. I didn't come as close to crying as I had before, but I was still upset. When I finally finished, Regulus wrapped his arms tightly around me.

"By the way," I added on a happier note when I had finished before he could say anything. "You look super sweet holding baby Parker." Regulus laughed and shook his head at me.

"You'd think that, after being with you for about three and a half years, nothing you could say or do would surprise me. But you still managed to with that last statement." I looked up at him and smiled slightly. He kissed me lightly before pulling me even closer to him.

"Do I even need to say anything about what happened earlier?" he whispered to me after a moment. I shook my head slowly. "I didn't think so. I think you've got it all figured out now. Now we just have to wait for Harry and Draco to return to see what happened after you left."

**A/N: Not so sure I liked the ending...as in, the last few paragraphs. Opinions?**

**Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want. Please review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to littledhampir13 and Princess-Lazy-Chan for the reviews!**

**Does anybody know where this story is going? They tend to trail away from my original plan as I work, and now I'm lost. Even though I have _some _ideas for later, I still don't have enough planned.**

**Has anybody seen Deathly Hallows Part 2? Well, I've already seen it twice. IT'S AMAZING!**

Chapter 16

I couldn't stop staring at myself in the fancy body-mirror on the wall. What was going on? I didn't recognize the _mirror_. I didn't recognize this _room_. I didn't recognize the _situation_. And I most _definitely_ didn't recognize _myself_.

I was in this crazy-ass wedding dress. The top was all lacy, with laced, see-through sleeves. The lace went down to my pants-line where it abruptly stopped in a completely straight line around my hips. The bottom half of the dress was this messed up puffy satin material that bunched in random places, and a long train trailed behind it. Around the spot where the top and bottom half met a dark maroon, satin sash was tied around my waist. My hair was pulled up into a twisted, fancy bun on the top of my head and my face was plastered with makeup.

This wasn't right. I didn't want this on my wedding day. I wanted it to be in someplace I was used to. I pictured myself in a flowing and strapless dress, preferably chiffon, with a small train (if any), and maybe a flower or some lace on the top. And definitely wanted my hair down, and my face natural...at least a _little_ natural.

Obviously, though, I hadn't given it too much thought.

The door on the other side of the room opened, and I saw James enter through the mirror. I looked over my shoulder and smiled at him, when in reality I wanted to scream and ask him what was going on. I didn't want this!

"It's time," he said quietly, smiling back. "Ready?" I sighed, looked back at myself in the mirror for a brief moment, and then turned – slowly, since I was wearing crazy high heels that I wasn't used to – and walked over to him. He handed me my bouquet of maroon and ivory lilies, took my arm in his, and led me out the door and down a long hallway to a pair of huge double doors. I could hear music coming from the room inside, it sounded like a trumpet, or clarinet of some sort.

I wanted a flute and/or harp. And why were my colors maroon and ivory?

Suddenly, the doors opened.

I found myself standing at the end of a long aisle in what looked like a huge, Muggle church, with both the whole upper and lower floor filled with people that I didn't recognize. Outside the huge stain-glass windows I could see snow falling.

I wanted to have a small wedding somewhere outdoors, and Regulus and I had already agreed to get married sometime in August of 1999 – we wanted to wait a bit. We had wanted to get married on the ninth or 16th, since we had met on August 9th and got engaged on the same day and on the 16th we had actually gotten together, but both of them were on a Monday, and we agreed that either a Friday or Saturday would be best.

Other than that, however, we hadn't decided much.

As James and I started up the aisle, the one good thing I noticed was that Regulus was standing at the end, smiling widely at me. To his left stood Sirius and Severus and to his right stood Astoria and Ginny.

I wondered why Harry and Draco weren't in it. But as I approached Regulus, I realized that they were the ushers.

When James and I had nearly reached the front, things started to change. First off, it seemed that Regulus was getting taller. And it wasn't because I was getting closer.

It happened all of a sudden, the lights flashed, and when they came back on, everything was different.

Everybody in the audience were suddenly wearing Death Eater robes with their masks on. It was no longer James walking me down the aisle. It was now Voldemort – the creepy one from my other time. The ushers were now Wormtail and Rosier. The bridesmaids had changed to Bellatrix and Narcissa, and the groomsmen had switched to Lucius and...

Harry.

What was Harry doing here? Everybody else seemed to be Death Eaters. Harry wasn't a Death Eater! Was he?

However, I didn't have time to think about it because I realized who Regulus had changed to.

It was Tom Riddle. The very one who had come out of the cauldron.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to fuss, and pout, and hex everybody within reach...except maybe Harry. I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could, I wanted to find Regulus and hold him tight, knowing he would never _really _turn into Riddle, and never let him go again.

But for some reason, I didn't. Instead, I continued walking with Voldemort until he gave me away to Riddle and the strange priest-type thing who happened to appear out of nowhere.

I held Riddle's hands in mine as Bellatrix and Narcissa fixed my train, and the priest-dude started the ceremony.

Everything seemed to go fine. Riddle and I said our vows right, and we each said "I do," even though I was screaming in agony inside.

I would prefer the Cruciatus curse. Any day.

The priest pronounced us husband and wife, and then told Riddle he could kiss the bride.

We were leaning in, I could feel his breath on mine, when I woke up sharply with a scream.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Nicole?" Regulus' voice called out from nearby. It was dark. Pitch. The only light came from the small cracks around the door. "Are you okay?" I took several deep breaths before I answered.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said quietly in a small voice.

"If you were fine," Regulus said, sitting up slowly, "you wouldn't have screamed, nor would you have said that in that voice." He turned the lamp next to him on and took in my horrified expression. I was still breathing deeply. "Okay, now I'm _really_ worried. What's wrong?" I shook my head.

"No, it's nothing, I'm fine," I repeated.

"You know, I'm not going to leave you alone until you tell me – "

"Fine," I said, annoyed. "I just...I had a nightmare. A _horrible _nightmare." I shook my head slowly. "It sounds even stupider when I say it. I'm too old for this. I shouldn't be afraid of _nightmares_. I'm not even afraid of Voldemort. It's stupid – "

"No, that's not stupid," Regulus said quietly, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me closer to him. "You're not too old for nightmares. You're _never _too old for them. Everybody has them, and you've been through a lot tonight, don't think it's not worth getting worked up over." He paused, rubbing my back in soothing circles. "What was it about?" he asked softly after a moment. I looked up at him and swallowed before launching into the full story.

By the time I finished, I wanted to cry but I held it in. I was being so stupid – it was just a dream, why was I letting it bother me so much? That shouldn't, couldn't and, _wouldn't _happened. But it still alarmed and scared me, no matter how stupid it seemed.

"Well no wonder it scares you," Regulus said quietly when I had finished. "If I had a dream where I was marrying...Bellatrix or something, I would be freaked out too."

"Is that because she's horrible, or because she's your cousin?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. 

"Damn I forgot about that," he said quietly. "Either way, if I dreamt I was marrying the person I hate most, I would be freaked out too. But don't let it bother you too much, alright? That's _never _going to happen, alright? I won't let it, no matter what. When you walk down that aisle, I promise it'll be _me _standing at the end of it, alright?" I nodded slowly.

"Alright. I'll try not to let it bother me." I paused. "You don't think it means anything, do you?"

"Well of course not. Why would it?"

"Well remember, the night the Death Eaters escaped from Azkaban, I had that dream about Bellatrix, and it was actually happening? And I remember in the other time, Harry used to have these crazy dreams when he was about 11 or 12 and they usually ended up meaning something." Regulus sighed, taking my hands in his.

"It didn't mean anything," he promised. "How could it? What could it mean?"

"I don't know," I said, furrowing my eyebrows. "Maybe it means that – that the Death Eaters will attack our wedding like they attacked Bill and Fleur's or something."

"I'm sure by August of next year, we'll have caught them," Regulus said.

"That gives us a year and five months," I said, doubtful. "I don't think the war will be over by then."

"Well why wouldn't it?"

"Regulus, the last war lasted for more than three years," I pointed out. "And in the other time, it also lasted for three years. Wars aren't won in months." Regulus sighed.

"Well, it can't hurt to hope."

"Do you think that Harry and Draco ever got back?" I asked, deciding to change the subject. Regulus shrugged.

"Let's check," he suggested.

Together we climbed out of the bed and walked over to the door. Regulus opened it quietly, in case somebody had fallen asleep on the couch, and we found ourselves face-to-face with Harry.

"Hey, I was just coming to get you," he said. He was directing his words at the both of us, but he was staring at me, his eyes cautious. I knew why – last he had seen me, I had just been tortured by the Cruciatus Curse. It bothered me, that he thought I was as fragile as a porcelain doll, but I didn't show it.

"Did you just get in?" Regulus asked, pushing me lightly out the door. I saw Draco in the room as well, but it was otherwise deserted. Draco nodded to us in greeting, but said nothing. I'm glad that at least _he_ didn't stare at me like I was frail. Harry nodded in response to Regulus' question. "Right. And what time is it?"

"Nearly two in the morning," Harry responded as Regulus and I sat down on a couch near the fireplace. Harry sat across from us, but Draco stayed standing nearby. "How're you?" he added to me. I shrugged.

"Alright."

"You were gone for quite some time," Regulus said, obviously trying to change the topic of discussion.

"Yeah, well, there's a lot to discuss when Voldemort comes back seventeen years after he's been killed," Harry pointed out. At least Harry and Regulus were making conversation, because honestly Draco and I either didn't feel like it or were preoccupied with something else. I know for me it was the latter (I was still worrying about the dream), but I wasn't sure about Draco. He looked upset about something, but I didn't know what.

"Have you seen Dumbledore yet?"

"Yeah, we went straight there and then came here. We're supposed to tell you two everything that happened. And Snape, but I figured you could tell him considering we still can't really stand each other," Harry replied. After a moment of silence, I felt the need to break it and said,

"Well? Are you going to tell us what happened or not?" Harry sighed, looked to Draco for support, but got none. All he got was Draco turning to look at me instead of Harry.

"They're going to lay low for a bit," he said quietly. "But only for a few weeks. Voldemort figures he can go out without masks or anything since nobody would recognize him, and even said he was going to come to enroll at Hogwarts in a few days. Sixth year transfer, I think he said."

"But what about the staff that would recognize him?" I asked, finally interested in the conversation. "I mean, he should know at least Dumbledore would realize it's him."

"He says the only one that should recognize him would be Dumbledore, and we were supposed to put a strong Confundus charm on him today. We didn't, obviously, but were supposed to."

"Why does he want to enroll at Hogwarts, though?" Regulus asked.

"I think he's going to try to get as many kids on his side as he can," Harry replied. "But he doesn't want anybody to know that he's come back. Not yet."

"Obviously," I stated. "He thinks he'll have the element of surprise, even though he doesn't."

"Exactly," Harry said. "He's not even having the Death Eaters attack villages, even all-Muggle ones, before it's known he's back. He wants to blow his cover by trying to attack the Ministry and gain control of it on March 31st."

"After only a month?" I asked, shocked. "I don't really see the point of him coming to Hogwarts if he's only going to stay for a _month_. Besides, will they have enough people to attack in a month?"

"Probably," Harry said. "They have a lot of people on their side already. Just think of how many people they can gain in a month, especially if those people think they will have some of the power when Voldemort gets it all. We all know he'll keep it for himself, but he convinces them he'll give some to them."

"So they think they can have control of the entire of Britain in one month?" Regulus asked, sounding skeptical. "I know they're all very strong and good at magic, but times are different now."

"Are they really?" Draco asked, joining the conversation finally. "The Ministry is still corrupt. Father and witches and wizards like him still get what they want by threatening and bribing people who have power. There are still huge arguments in the Wizengamot over things like werewolf and house-elf and goblin rights, and people still despise those who had been in different houses than them at Hogwarts, especially Slytherin and Gryffindor. Maybe we, as the Order and those close to it, have been able to put aside our differences, but the rest of the world hasn't."

"Well the rest of the world is a lot closer to putting those differences aside than they were," Regulus pointed out. "All of that progress won't make any difference?"

"Maybe a little," I said, frowning. "It might take a bit more effort on the Death Eaters' parts, but they can probably still pull it off easily."

"What are we supposed to do, then?" Regulus asked. "Sit around and wait for them to attack?"

"You have to be sure to not give them any reason to suspect that you know," Harry said. "You can't tell all of the Aurors, only the most trusted ones. Sirius, Dad, Frank, Alice, you get the idea. And you _have_ to be sure to stress to them and Snape how important it is that they act as though everything is normal."

"Don't worry, we will," I said. Harry sighed.

"Yeah, well, I best be going." He stood up, stretched, and headed for the door. "I'll see you guys later, alright?"

"Goodnight," I said quietly, watching Draco. He was still there, staring at the still hot wood in the fireplace with a distant look in his eyes. When Harry was gone completely, I stood up and walked up to his side, stopping beside him.

"Find the wood interesting?" I asked after a moment. He shook his head slowly.

"No, I'm just...thinking."

"About?" I pressured. Draco looked over his shoulder at Regulus, who smiled slightly and rose his eyebrows.

"If you want me to leave, just say so." Draco smiled apologetically as Regulus headed back to the room. "Don't be too long, alright?" I nodded and watched him go. When I was certain he was gone, I turned back to Draco.

"What's up?" I asked softly. He turned to me.

"Before we left, Voldemort – or Riddle, or whatever he is now – pulled me away from the rest for a moment."

"Did he...try to take advantage of you?" I asked, my eyes wide. "He did that to me too, back in the seventies! I never knew he could be such a man-whore."

"No, no, that's not it," Draco said, looking disgusted. "That's almost as bad as you implying that I would fall in love with your brother. Actually, it's _worse_."

"Well then why did he pull you aside?" I asked, confused.

"He wanted to...to tell me something."

"What?" I knew he was avoiding the question. I could tell. But what I didn't know was why he was avoiding the question. "What did he tell you?"

"Well, he...he said he's annoyed with having to give you orders through me," he said slowly. And it hit me. No wonder he had been avoiding the question.

"He wants to give me the potion so I have to listen to him instead," I said quietly.

"What – no, that's not it," Draco said quickly. "He just...he told me to tell you that you have to obey him now, too." He put on a horrible expression that I could actually see Riddle having and said in a mock, although very good, imitation of his voice and said, "'It'd be too much of a bother to have to deal with her _all _the time, so I'll just deal with her whenever I want to or need to and you get her the rest of the time.'"

Despite the fact that this was a serious topic, we both bust up laughing. By the time we had finished several minutes later, my abs hurt and I was wiping away tears. Finally, when we had finished, Draco continued.

"And also, you're supposed to meet him tomorrow night, the 'usual spot,' I'm thinking it's the drawing room, at midnight." I sighed. Here we go. I should've known this was bound to happen soon. On the bright side, Dumbledore had said he would be telling me things he wouldn't tell anybody else soon, so at least I would be of some use.

When I didn't reply, Draco reached out his hand and set it on my shoulder gently in a soothing manner.

"You okay?" he asked softly. I nodded slowly, smiling slightly in reassurance.

"Yeah, it's just...I didn't miss this. At all." I sighed again, looking toward the fire. "You don't know what's it's like, when he gets more power. It's horrible. Even in the last war he wasn't nearly as close to taking the Ministry. It's going to be like the war in my other time. And that's exactly what I went back to prevent!" I turned away, knocking his hand off my shoulder. "It's like...everything I did was for nothing."

"For nothing?" Draco asked gently, sounding incredulous. "I don't understand how you can say that." I looked back toward him, confused. "Regulus is alive. James and Lily are alive. Sirius and Dumbledore and Mad-Eye didn't die like they would've by now in your other life. Even _you're _alive. And Alice and Frank...well, Johnny and Daniela wouldn't be here. Neither would Leah or Parker, or Amanda and Miles. Maybe you think it didn't make any difference, but it made all the difference in the world."

I couldn't help but smile at him.

"Yeah...I guess you're right..."

"Now you better go get some sleep," he said, giving me a slight push in the direction of our room. "You've had a long day. Not to mention, I'm tired of talking to you."

"Oh, thanks." 

"You know I'm kidding." I smiled and nodded, admitting that I knew he was.

"I'll see you soon, then, Draco."

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want. Please review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to littledhampir13 and DarkPhoenixFlame for the reviews!**

**Sorry this took a bit longer than usual, I went out of town for 5 days. I should be back to weekly updates next week, though, so don't worry! **

**I've decided that if I get five or more reviews for this chapter, I'll give you a hint or two about what will happen later in this story in the Author's Note of the next chapter. It won't be anything too obvious; it'll be like a riddle. (This might be difficult for me to come up with something that's not too obvious, or too vague.) But I need five reviews! **

Chapter 17

Who knew this would ever happen?

Who knew the Death Eaters would – or even _could _– break out of Azkaban?

Who knew they would find a way to bring Voldemort back to life?

And who knew I would one day be standing outside Malfoy Manor just before midnight, going to meet Riddle and to _willingly _obey his every order once there?

_I_ sure didn't.

Regulus had been against it when I had first told him. He told me Riddle would probably make me do something stupid, and, by his tone of voice, I knew exactly what he was talking about. But I told him I had to. He tried and tried to convince me not to, even threatening to tell Lily and James so they would somehow keep me from going, but I countered his every word with another argument.

Finally, he agreed it was necessary, and agreed not to tell anybody. Only Draco, Dumbledore, Severus (whom I had told and had also been against it for quite some time), Regulus and I knew, and, for the time being, we planned to keep it that way. Harry would freak out, Lily would force me not to go by tying me to a chair or something, and James would somehow make me feel bad.

Such a supportive family I have – note the sarcasm.

Although nobody could've predicted this, even – _especially_ – Trelawney (although I don't know about that, she ironically ends up predicting all the major things), there I was, walking through the gate and into the all-_too_-familiar Entrance Hall of Malfoy Manor. I only had about two minutes before I had to be there, and I knew he wouldn't be forgiving if I was even a second late, but I found myself walking down the stairs and hallway very slowly.

I stared at the blank side of the familiar closed door for several long moments before knocking three times. I don't think he even waited for me to finish knocking before answering,

"Enter."

I took a deep breath.

_Here we go_, I thought.

I pushed the door open.

Riddle was standing with his back to me, looking out over the grounds through the window. He didn't even turn to make sure it was me as I shut the door behind me and stood there silently.

"You're late." I didn't say anything. "Did Draco tell you not to do magic unless I told you to while you're here?" he asked after a very long pause.

"…Was he supposed to?"

"Yes." _Then…_

"Yeah, he did." _Not_. But it doesn't hurt to lie a few times. Especially to the man who will probably be trying to kill all your loved ones soon enough.

Finally, he turned around to face me.

He was already starting to look different. The whites of his eyes, which, in the Voldemort I was used to, were completely red, had become permanently bloodshot. His nose was starting to flatten, and his skin was paling. Oh sweet Merlin, if he turned into the Voldemort I knew, and I had to obey his every order, and he told me to do a _certain something_, I might just kill myself.

Or maybe _him_.

Yeah, I'd much rather kill him than myself.

"Have you already made a Horcrux?" I blurted, unable to stop myself. "You're starting to look like a creeper again." Riddle laughed his high, cold laugh for several minutes before he answered.

"I _am_ going to find a way to keep from turning into that 'creeper,' as you put it. But no, no, I haven't made a Horcrux. Not yet. But I will, and soon, believe me. I just…I need to find the right thing to make into one, and the right place to hide it." I saw his eyes trail from my eyes down to my hands, which were interlocked in front of me. "Although, I _do_ have an idea for one." _Oh, shit_.

"No…_no!_" I exclaimed. "You are _not _using my engagement ring as a Horcrux! You've already turned it into a tracker, isn't that enough?"

"It's perfect, though," Riddle explained, walking toward me. I took a few steps backward to get away from him, but ran into the wall and had to stop. Riddle kept walking toward me, though, and his face was only inches from mine when he stopped. "That ring must've belonged to one of Regulus' great-great-great-great-grandmothers or something, because I've seen it before, which makes it a historic artifact, at least to those of us who value blood-status. And it's the perfect cover-up, having it sitting on that pretty little finger of yours."

I shook my head feverishly.

"No," I repeated. "No, I won't let you! I…I'll have Regulus take it and destroy it before you can!"

"You can't stop me. Besides, I never said I was _going _to," he said, stepping even closer to me. "I just said it was an idea." He paused. "No matter what I use, though, I will probably have you keep hold of it. Because, come on, you're the only person I know for sure I can trust to not tell anybody, and to really hide it in a really good spot."

"Right," I muttered. _Ha, good to know the only person you think you can trust, you really _can't_ trust_, I thought, desperately trying to keep my face as far from his as possible, even though there was a wall in the way, so it was quite hard to do so.

"I'm still looking around," he continued, looking back into my eyes. "You know, all the good artifacts were destroyed by _someone_ –" He rose his eyebrows pointedly at me. "– in the 1970s, but I'm thinking of maybe theGryffindor sword, I could use that –"

"Don't you hate Gryffindor, though?" I pointed out. I also almost said that there are _two _Gryffindor swords here (Regulus had tried to send the other one back, the one impregnated with Basilisk venom that I had borrowed from the Harry in my other time, but Harry had told him to keep it just in case) but decided that that wouldn't be such a smart move.

"Yes, but it _is _a historic artifact," he pointed out, "And that's what I look for most in something to make into a Horcrux. You of all people should know that, my dear lady."

"I am _not _your 'dear lady'," I snarled as his face inched even closer to mine.

"Oh, don't worry; you _will_ be," he said in a very seductive voice. "One day." He put his hands up on the wall either side of my shoulders and leaned his face even closer to mine. I grimaced and turned my head sideways, so at least our mouths weren't almost touching. "Kiss me." He whispered the order after a moment of silence.

"W-What?" I stuttered, turning back to face him completely, our noses hitting each other. "I-I'm _engaged _–"

"Kiss – me – _now_," he ordered through gritted teeth, getting angry with me.

I quickly leaned forward and set my lips against his, but it was only a peck.

"Happy?" I snapped. "I kissed you, alright?"

"That's not a _kiss_," Riddle laughed. "That was a _peck_! Kiss me like you mean it – kiss me like you kiss that good-for-nothing fiancé of yours!"

"Regulus _isn't_ –!" I started, but then I realized I had to obey his every order and acted as though the potion had kicked in and leaned forward and kissed him again. I closed my eyes and tried as hard as possible to imagine that it was Regulus I was kissing as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

But Regulus was a _much _better kisser. Not to mention his lips were softer, and it's just super hard to forget who you're kissing.

Finally, after Merlin knows how long, Riddle leaned back. Somehow, his arms had moved from the wall down to around my waist, and he had pulled me away from the wall against him. I stared angrily right into his eyes, but there only held joy in his.

"You're a great kisser," he muttered.

"You're a _horrible _kisser," I said back. Anger flared in his eyes, but only briefly before he said,

"You know that day we were talking about, the day that you would one day be my dear lady?" I stared at him but didn't say anything back, so he continued. "That day, that's going to be soon. You have my word on that."

"Right," I muttered skeptically.

"It will be," Riddle said. "If you don't believe me, you'll see when that day comes. Then _I'll_ be the one laughing."

I suddenly realized we were still standing with our arms around each other, our faces close. I had stood like this with Regulus before, and never imagined I would be standing like this with _Tom Riddle _one day.

Finally, I unwrapped my arms from around his neck and stepped out of his arms. He stared at me.

"Did I tell you to move?"

"No, but you didn't tell me I couldn't either."

"Well played," he said, pleased, for some reason. "Now get back over here and kiss me again."

"Unable" to control my limbs, I walked over and did as he said, wrapping my arms around his neck again, his finding their way to my waist. His tongue slid over my lips, as if asking permission to go into my mouth, but I pulled back before he could slip it in.

"I kissed you, happy?"

"Keep it up until _I _pull back," Riddle snarled, annoyed with me stopping the kisses so quickly.

I had to. Did it gross me out? Yes. Did I like it? No. But, even when Riddle's tongue slipped into mine, I had to let it. If I blew my cover, and therefore Draco and maybe even Harry's, because I wouldn't kiss somebody…dear Merlin, I didn't want to even _think _about what would happen. _Especially_ to them.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Riddle pulled back again, but kept his arms around my waist.

"Stay here," he said. "Don't move like you did before until I tell you to." I sighed, annoyed, but stayed there. "You know, something about you…_intrigues_ me Somehow, no matter how horrid you are to me, you make me actually care about you like I never have for anybody else." I stared at him, knowing my face was in a grimace. "Ready to hear all the plans I have that I haven't told everybody and give your _honest _support?"

"No –" He rose his eyebrows and I sighed. "Fine."

"And you won't tell anybody _anything _that happened here. Nothing you heard, nothing you saw, nothing you did. That's not a question, either. You won't even tell them you _came _here. Make up some excuse if anybody asks, alright?"

"Fine," I grumbled again.

"Then come, love." He unwrapped his arms from around my waist, took my hand in his and pulled me over to the table in the middle of the room, shoving me into a chair that, yet again, had chains wrap around my wrists to hold me to the chair. I sighed, yanked on them lightly to see if they would break, and then gave up and sat back.

"Love? _Love_? Dear sweet Merlin, _don't _call me that."

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Will you _please _not call me that? I'm not your _love_."

"I'll call you whatever I want, thanks." I sighed again, aggravated. "Now, what were we talking about? Oh yes, my plans." He paused. "Can you guess them at all?" I shrugged.

"Are you going to…lay low, for a while?" I asked, pretending that I couldn't care less.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because it seems to me like that would be the best plan of action. Only a handful of really trusted people know you're back, and you could use that to your advantage. Being as cunning as you are, I don't see how that thought hadn't occurred to you."

"Oh, it did," Riddle said, pulling out a chair across from me and sitting down, folding his hands together and setting them on the table, leaning forward slightly. "And that _is _what I'm doing. Nobody will recognize me, except Dumbledore probably, and your brother is to put a Confundus Charm on him, so I can walk about freely without being attacked by somebody from the Ministry or the Order."

"Harry's not really on your side, you know," I snarled. "He's just pretending."

"Yeah, like I believe that," Riddle laughed, leaning back in his chair and setting his still-folded hands on his stomach. "Anyways, I have a surprise for you. Ask me what it is."

"What is it?"

"I'm going back to Hogwarts. As a student, that is. I'm enrolling as a 'transfer' student."

"Why?" I asked, pretending to be puzzled and shocked, even though I had already known this and already knew why.

"So I can recruit more Death Eaters, of course. The young ones are always so helpful, so loyal and eager to please. I could use more followers like that. And so I can get friendly with those kids that will probably soon be a part of the Order, and children of people already in the Order, so I can know things about them that could be useful. Like the Longbottom children, and the Weasleys and Shacklebolts."

"You're so horrible," I muttered after a moment. "Did you know that?"

"Of course I did," he said proudly. "And thanks for the compliment, my lady." I didn't say anything about the fact that he had called me "my lady" this time, because I was tired of him just telling me he could say and do whatever he wanted whenever I told him not to call me that.

"Anyway, March 31st. Memorize the date, stick it to your brain. It's important."

"Why?"

"That's the day we're taking the Ministry."

"But…that's only a month away. How do you expect to get enough followers in a _month_? Besides, what's the point of coming back to Hogwarts only for a month?" I shook my head slowly. "That's a horrible plan. You'll never get it in only a _month_."

"Won't I?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "I mean, come on, the element of surprise is the best weapon we have. Nobody will expect it, and that's how we want it. And sure we'll have enough people, they all want power and think I can give that to them."

"But you won't," I pointed out. He shrugged.

"They don't have to know that," he replied, smiling smugly.

"You think you're so slick, don't you?" I asked. "Running around with all this power, making promises to people that you don't ever intend to keep."

"Maybe I do think that, maybe I don't," he said vaguely. "Either way, it gets things done, especially things that I _want _done." He paused. "Back to the topic of my plans; do you know what the first thing I want to do as soon as I get the Ministry is?"

"What?" I asked, getting annoyed.

"I'm having each and every person in the Order killed."

I felt my eyes widen. My blood started to run cold. _Oh shit, oh shit, no. If he does that…I won't have anything to live for. _Surely he won't be able to do that…right?

Surely not.

"Scares you, doesn't it?" Riddle taunted from behind me. How had he gotten behind me? I hadn't even noticed him stand up. Either way, I could feel his breath on my neck, and I turned my head slightly to look at him. "The thought of everybody you love and care for dying?" The back of his hand ran lightly over my probably cold cheek.

"You – you wouldn't. You _couldn't_!" I snarled, yanking my head back so his hand was now hanging in midair.

"Oh, but I would, and could, all too easily," he said in a mocking tone.

"If you care for me at all like you say you do, you wouldn't," I whispered as his hand touched my face gently again. This time, I was too terrified that he would kill everybody I love to flinch back.

"I care about _you_, not _them_," he said softly, bending down in front of me so we were closer to being eye-to-eye. "And just because I care about you doesn't mean I won't kill them."

"But that would kill _me_, too," I said quietly. "I wouldn't ever be the same."

"Well maybe I'll let a few of them survive for moral support for you," he said thoughtfully. "Like…James and Lily…maybe Sirius…"

"What about –?"

"Regulus?" he interrupted. I swallowed and nodded slowly. "Well, of course I can't have the man who's my competition left alive now can I?" Infuriated, and unable to do anything else, I turned my face back to him and glared at him. Under my glare, his hand fell away from my face back to his side.

"There is no competition," I snarled. "You're disgusting and vile and cruel, and Regulus is kind and considerate and gentle. You are _no _match for him."

And, furious, I leaned back a bit and spit right into his face.

He closed his eyes briefly, obviously pissed, before he brought his hand back up. At first, I thought he was going to stroke my cheek again and be _understanding _(Why did I ever think that?), but then he struck me across my right cheek.

Why did a simple slap hurt so badly? Last time he had backhanded me hadn't even hurt that bad. My head was whipped to the side, knocking a large chunk of my hair into my face, and my eyes started to water. The sound echoed around us in the silent room, and I clenched my hands around the arms of the chair angrily.

"Behave yourself, or you'll get much worse than that," Riddle snapped, standing up swiftly and looking down at me.

"What are you going to do?" I asked rudely. "If you don't want anybody to know I've been here, you can't do too much."

"I don't mind blowing the cover to discipline you," he said, anger still evident in his eyes. "Or you can come up with some crazy excuse, I'm sure. You're awful good at that."

"They wouldn't believe me if I came up with some _excuse_," I muttered. "They know me better than that."

"Sure they do," he said sardonically, walking to the door. "Now, I'm going to leave you here for some time to think about what you did, and to come up with some excuse for when Regulus asks you where you were."

"What? You're just going to _leave _me here?" I asked. _Oh shit, I don't want to sit here for a long time. Please only be leaving for a few minutes. _He nodded, smiling wickedly as he pulled open the door. "For how long?"

"Until I feel like you've been here long enough." _Yeah, I'm going to be stuck here for a few – several – hours. _

Riddle slipped out the door and shut it behind him.I heard several locks click in their place on the other side of the door before silence enveloped the room.

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to littledhampir13, givetherabbitthefreakintrix, and Rosiline for the reviews!**

**I didn't get my five reviews! I'll give you another chance; five reviews and I'll give you a hint to see what will happen later in the story. ****Like how, before DH came out, JKR said that "three main characters would die." Something like that. But I gotta get five reviews!**

Chapter 18

_Dear sweet Merlin._

I have no idea how long I sat there, being bored.

Yep, that's the only thing I was; bored. And cold – _freezing_, actually_._ And maybe a little annoyed. Or a _lot _annoyed. With Riddle. Because, come on, who leaves somebody they "care" about (_As if,_ I thought,_ he probably just wants me to trust that he won't hurt me when I _know_ he will._) tied to a chair in a frozen room all alone for what feels like hours?

Eventually, I found my head lolling to the side and my eyes drooping.

_Oh God, don't fall asleep_, I ordered myself, shaking my head clear and opening my eyes wide to keep them open. _If you do, you'll probably wake up to find yourself stripped and tied to a bed…Okay, that's a revolting thought. I think I just threw up a little._

I looked down at my watch – actually, it was Sirius' watch from the seventies, but I called it mine – and saw that it was nearing two-thirty. What was Riddle playing at, keeping me here this long? Was he hoping that I _would _fall asleep, so he could do…well, _me_?

Just in case he was, I refused to allow myself to fall asleep.

My head was leaning backwards onto the back of the chair with my eyes closed – I had almost given up on not falling asleep – and it was a little after three in the morning when I heard the door open quietly from behind me. I think I was actually in that phase between being asleep and awake when I heard it open, and I jerked my head up as soon as I heard it and turned my head around slightly to see –

"Draco!" I exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?" He shut the door quietly behind him quietly, staring at me as though confused.

"I don't really know," he replied. "I was told to come here at three in the morning and meet in the _upstairs _drawing room. I met Riddle there, and he told me to come here and see if you're asleep. If so, I'm supposed to bring him here, but if not, I'm to release you, but tell you nothing whatsoever. Except that you can use magic again. And then I can leave."

"Well, you didn't really listen to him so well, did you?" I pointed out as he waved his wand and the chains around my wrists disappeared suddenly. I rubbed the red marks on my wrists that clearly weren't going away for a while before I realized that rubbing them made them sting, so I stopped. Instead I stood up and turned to face Draco.

"What happened to your face?" he asked suddenly. I frowned.

"What's wrong with it?" I asked, confused.

"It looks like you got slapped."

"Oh! Well that's probably because I _was _slapped," I said, remembering that Riddle had slapped me earlier after I had spit in his face.

"What did you do?"

"What makes you think I did something?" I asked, indignant. He rose his eyebrows, and I sighed. "Alright, alright, I spit in his face."

"Why?" 

_Because he told me he would kill Regulus because he honestly thought he was Regulus' competition_, I thought. Instead of saying that, though, I shook my head slowly – I _really _didn't want to talk about it because it forced me face the possibility that Regulus could actually be killed in this war just like anybody else.

Obviously, that fact hadn't yet occurred to me.

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Draco asked softly as we left the room and headed toward the staircase that led to the Entrance Hall. "I won't tell anybody." I sighed and nodded.

"I don't want to talk about it. I don't even want to tell _Dumbledore_, let alone anybody else. Even though I know I probably _should_ tell Dumbledore," I replied.

"I'm sure he'll understand if you wait until tomorrow," he said as he pushed the large front doors open and allowed me to go first.

"No, I'll probably forget everything by then. I'm going to tell him straight away." I paused, waiting for him to close the door behind himself. "You can come if you want, I suppose. I'm still pretty pissed at Dumbledore because of what he said to me last time I was there; I might need somebody there to keep me calm."

"What did he say last time you were there?"

"You didn't hear?" I asked. He shook his head. "Oh. I'm surprised Dumbledore didn't tell you." I paused. "He yelled at me for having my doubts that Harry was really on our side. I mean, come on, who the hell is _that _good of an actor?" Draco stopped abruptly, and I followed suit and turned to face him slowly.

"To be honest, I thought the same thing for a while. But as soon as we had left the Manor, he looked about ready to break down crying and told me that he felt really horrible about having hurt you and wanting nothing more than to kill Riddle for making him and himself for actually doing. I almost had to subdue him to keep him from actually trying to do so." I felt my eyes widen from shame.

"Really?" I asked quietly. He nodded, smiling slightly. "Damn it, Drake, you just made me feel even worse than I did when Dumbledore yelled at me!" He laughed softly as we started walking toward the gates again.

"I thought maybe I would make you feel better. Sorry that my efforts were a waste."

"I wouldn't call them a _waste_," I replied. "You _did_ help with my trust in Harry; you just didn't help me feel better about the fact that I didn't trust Harry for a while. Severus says it's because I wasn't in the right state of mind, that the…the curse had messed with my mind, since I hadn't been under it for a long time."

"That sounds about right," Draco muttered as the gates flung open upon my touch. "I was wondering if, since it's been 17 years, if not for your mind then for your body at least, the tor-curse – " he corrected quickly, " – would have a worse effect on you than you had expected."

We came to a stop simultaneously about ten feet past the gate. I heard it close behind us and heard the locks click into place. Draco held out his hand and I took it. He Side-Alonged me right into the Shrieking Shack.

"Why are we going this way?" I asked. "We could've just Flooed right to Dumbledore's office."

"I don't know," he replied as I entered the passageway. "This was just the way that came to mind."

"Ugh," I muttered as I moved forward slightly so that he could come down too. "This tunnel sucks, it's too damp and dark and tiny."

"And long," Draco added.

"Don't complain, _you're _the one who picked this way to get in," I pointed out. "We really should suggest moving the hideout to Grimmauld Place or something easier to get into."

"What's Grimmauld Place?"

"Oh, I forgot that you wouldn't know," I muttered, ducking so I wouldn't hit my head on a piece of rock protruding from the ceiling. "It's where Sirius and Regulus grew up, it fell into Sirius' possession when Regulus died last time…obviously, Regulus didn't die this time, so it's his. Last time from 1995 to 1996 we used it as a hideout for Order members and Dumbledore put the Fidelius Charm on it and was the Secret Keeper."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," Draco said thoughtfully. "A _really_ good idea, actually. Except…except, I think _you _should be the Secret Keeper."

Out of shock, I smashed my head into another piece of rock protruding from the wall.

"W-what?" I asked, massaging my forehead to try to get the aching to go away. "_Me_? But then, if Riddle says –" I put on a fake, high voice, mocking Riddle "– 'Tell me where they are!' I'll have to!"

"Not really," he pointed out. "Besides, we can _tell_ him that Dumbledoreis the Secret Keeper. If we even _can _tell him who the Secret Keeper is. And, if he ever gets hold of Dumbledore…which he _won't_…Dumbledore can just be like, 'I'm not the Secret Keeper, Tom.' And we know he'll refuse to say who it is because, come on, it's _Dumbledore_."

"I'd probably tell him if he just asked once because I'm worried he'll find out I'm not really on his side and kill everybody I love –"

"Oh come on, I know you, Nicole, you won't tell him, because if you do, everybody you love will die, but if you don't, they won't."

I frowned. _He's right_, I couldn't help but think. _Voldemort wouldn't expect it. I would actually be the _last_ person he'd expect since he thinks I'm under his control completely_.

"Maybe you're right," I said quietly as I clambered out of the hole from under the Whomping Willow and pressed the knob in the tree to freeze it as Draco followed suit. "I mean, Riddle would never expect it. It'd be a nice surprise." _Plus_, I thought, _it keeps Dumbledore out of danger too. It only puts me in the danger, which is always what I want._

"See? You should suggest it to Dumbledore."

"I might just do that," I muttered, starting up toward the castle. The lights from the windows illuminated the grounds and I could see the giant doors up ahead and suddenly realized something. "Dammit, Draco, I bet the front doors are locked." I saw Draco shrug through the darkness.

"Oh well, we can just send a Patronus up if we have to," he pointed out. "Dumbledore can probably unlock the doors from his office somehow and then just have us lock it behind us. Or he can send Filch. Although Filch will probably snap at us and try to give us a detention – he'll even try to give _you _a detention, and you don't even go to school here anymore."

"Sounds about right to me," I agreed.

We walked the rest of the way in silence, and, even though I knew that the gates would be locked, I tried to pull them open anyways. No luck. Draco sent off a Patronus message to Dumbledore and a few seconds later we heard the locks click open. This time, when I pulled the gates open, they opened easily.

Once we had closed them behind us, I stopped Draco before he could start walking toward Dumbledore's office.

"We can't just leave the doors unlocked," I pointed out upon his confused look. "Especially since the Death Eaters are out."

"How could they even get into the grounds?"

"The same way _we _did," I said, trying to figure out how to lock the doors. I saw Draco pale out of the corner of my eyes at the thought.

"Shit, they could get in so easily it's terrifying."

"Exactly why we need to figure out how to lock this."

"Well we could just –"

There was a sudden "meow" and we turned our eyes to see Mrs. Norris standing at the bottom of the stairs staring at us with her big yellow eyes. We both paused, knowing what was coming.

And, sure enough, a few seconds later Filch came pounding down the stairs.

"Students out of bed!" he yelled. "Students in the corridors!" He stopped when he saw us, seemed to consider walking away and leaving us be, but then continued to call, "Students out of bed!"

"Students out of bed? Oh, it's just you two." Severus, hearing the ruckus, had come sweeping out of the dungeons. "Move along, Filch, they're fine and you know it." Filch turned around, looking completely disappointed, and followed Mrs. Norris, who kept watching us, up the stairs.

"Thanks Sev," I said once he was gone. "Hey, can you lock this? Dumbledore unlocked it so we could get in, but we don't know how to relock it." Sev nodded, raised his wand, and waved it, causing the locks to click. "Thanks," I muttered.

"What happened to your face?"

"I was slapped cause I spit in Riddle's face."

"Did you just get back?" Severus asked, not even bothering to ask why I had spit in Riddle's face. When I nodded, he furrowed his eyebrows. "What happened? Why were you gone for so long?" I shook my head slowly.

"I don't even want to talk about it," I muttered.

"Well are you going to tell Dumbledore?" I nodded.

"Of course," I replied. "I don't really _want_ to, I don't want to tell anybody, but I know I should tell him, so I'm going to. You two can come, if you'd like." I saw Draco and Severus make eye contact and decide to come as I started toward the stairs.

We walked the entire way to Dumbledore's office in silence and, even when we had stepped onto the moving staircase behind the stone gargoyle, not one of us had anything to say. The silence was finally broken by Dumbledore's soft call of "Enter" after I had wracked my knuckles on his door three times.

I led the way into his office and, as though expecting us, there were three chairs sitting in front of Dumbledore's desk. He was as wide awake as he usually was around noon and still around ten at night. I wondered if he ever slept as I sat in the middle chair of the three.

"Do you ever sleep?" I asked, unable to stop myself.

"Why yes I do, Nicole," he replied. "But I was up waiting for you to get back tonight…or, should I say, this morning."

"Oh," I replied. "Well, I'm back now."

"I see that," he replied. "My, my, what happened to your face?"

"Is it really that bad?" I asked, rubbing my face. "Riddle slapped me cause I spit into his face." Dumbledore, like Severus, didn't even bother asking why I had spit into his face. Was I really that predictable? Instead, he just asked,

"What news do you bring?"

I sighed.

_Well, here we go._

"Well, he mostly just told me stuff that we already know," I started. "About lying low, coming to Hogwarts in a few days, trying to take the Ministry at the end of March. He implied that he would tell me how, exactly, he planned to take the Ministry but didn't actually tell me." I paused. "He also said…he said he was going…going to have everybody in the Order killed as soon as he took the Ministry."

"Is that it?"

"Well…he said he hadn't made another Horcrux yet, but was planning on it, he just needs to find the right artifact. He also said he was definitely going to give it to me once he made it." I didn't want to say that he had wanted to use my ring at first, so I didn't bother. That shouldn't matter to anybody.

"You need to deter him," Dumbledore said. "Try to keep him from making another Horcrux."

"How? I have to obey everything he says, I can't just force him not to."

"No, but you can use your words," he pointed out. "You know his weaknesses better than even I do." I saw the twinkle in eyes and I knew immediately that he knew exactly what I was thinking – _his weakness is me_. "I'm sure you can find some way to convince him not to make one."

"It'll be difficult. But I suppose I'm up to a challenge." I paused. "That's really all he said. I have a feeling he has more to talk about once he calls me back, which will probably be soon knowing him."

"That's it?" Severus asked suddenly. "You were gone for three and a half hours, and that's it?"

"He tied my wrists to a chair and left me there for about two of those hours," I retorted rather rudely. _I'm _really _not in the mood, Snape_, I thought. Severus rose his hands in a surrender position at my harsh tone.

"Sorry, I didn't know. I was just wondering." I didn't even apologize for my insolence.

"I was thinking, though," I said, turning back to Dumbledore. "That we need someplace better to use as a hideout. Not that Hogwarts isn't a good one – a _really _good one, actually – but it's so difficult to get to the Room of Requirement. We need somewhere that we can just Apparate and Disapperate right into and out of."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Grimmauld Place. It's in Regulus' possession, the Death Eaters don't know that, they won't expect it, and we can easily put it under the Fidelius Charm just in case."

"That's a rather brilliant idea, if I do say so myself," Dumbledore said. "I can be the Secret Keeper, not to be arrogant but I'm probably the safest choice –"

"About that," Draco interrupted. "Nicole and I were talking, and we think it'd be better to have _her _be the Secret Keeper. I mean, we can _tell _Riddle that you're it, but really have her be it. He wouldn't suspect it, he would expect her to refuse to be it since she would have to tell him if he asked, and, if he ever gets hold of you, which we all know he won't, you wouldn't tell him anyways so that wouldn't be surprising when you don't."

_And_, I thought again, _it only puts me in the danger, which is always what I strive to do – keep everybody else out of danger and me in it._

"That's an intelligent suggestion, Draco, I have to say," Dumbledore said. "However, I don't feel comfortable putting Nicole in that type of danger."

"I'm willing to take the risk," I contradicted. "Happy to, actually. I don't want anybody else in danger except me, and you know it. Just let me do it, please?" Dumbledore sighed.

"Alright. Tomorrow you and Regulus and I can go check out the place, make sure it's alright to use, and perform the charm and tomorrow night we can have everybody move." I felt myself smiling despite the horrible mood I was in.

"Good," I said. "I'm glad you came around, because I know some other people who know how to perform that charm and they could've done it without your knowledge, which I would hate to do."

"Well, you all best be headed off to bed. It's awful late – or maybe early, depending on how you'd like to put it – and I know you all need your beauty sleep."

Severus and Draco bid goodbye, but I said no more as I left and headed in the opposite direction than them – they were both headed back to the dungeons where their sleeping quarters were and I was headed back to the Room of Requirements.

I saw nobody in the Common Room as I walked through, but I think I was in some sort of daze. I pulled open the door to the room Regulus and I stayed in and shut it behind me, putting up a Silencing Charm around the room.

Regulus wasn't there, but I didn't even have time to wonder where he was before I threw myself upon the bed and screamed into one of the pillows until my throat was raw, at which point the tears started to fall.

I think I had been crying for only a few minutes when the door opened quietly and Regulus entered. I don't think he noticed that I was crying at first, but, once he did, he crossed the room quietly and sat next to me, pulling me into his chest. He didn't even ask what was wrong until I had finished sobbing hysterically a good half hour later and was reduced to sniffling.

"You okay?" Regulus asked softly, running his fingers through my long hair. I shook my head.

"I hate this," I whispered. "I don't want to do it anymore." 

"Then don't," he replied. "Talk to Dumbledore – he'll understand. Have him pretend to have you locked up somewhere because he figured it out somehow, or something." I shook my head again.

"No – I can't. If I do, it…it'll just make things worse."

"What do you mean?"

"He already has plans to kill you," I spilled before I could stop myself, tearing up again. I felt him tense up slightly in my arms, but I don't blame him. "I don't want to give him any more reason to want to. I love you, and I don't want to loose you."

"But…he's not stupid enough to think that it's _your _fault. Why would he want to punish you?"

"He doesn't want to kill you to punish me."

"Then why does he want to kill me?"

I paused. I didn't want to tell him this. I didn't want to tell _anybody _this because it was just plain revolting. But I didn't feel right keeping it from him.

So, I just spilt it.

"I think…I think he may be in – in love with me."

**A/N: Don't forget to review! If I get five, I'll hint at what'll happen next!**

**Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to givetherabbitthefreakintrix and littledhampir13 for the reviews!**

Chapter 19

"_I think…I think he may be in – in love with me_."

Regulus was silent for a long, long time. So long I was tempted to ask if he was still alive. But then he finally spoke.

"Please excuse me while I go _beat – his – brains – out_."

At first, I thought he was kidding. But then he made to stand up, and I grabbed his arm roughly to stop him.

"Regulus," I admonished, holding his arm tightly to keep him from moving. "You can't _seriously_ be thinking of doing this!"

"Like hell I can't!" he exclaimed, yanking his arm out of my grasp and standing up. "You're _my fiancé_; I'm not going to let some crazy-ass Dark Wizard who is in _love_ with you live!" He made toward the door, but I stood up and ran in his way, blocking the exit. "Move, Nicole, I have…_business_ to attend to."

"You can't do this!" I cried. "You'll never be able to get in _and _out alive, and then you'll just get yourself killed! I couldn't live with myself if you were killed, Reg! And even if you don't, you'll alert to them that Draco and I aren't really on their side! You'll get _us _killed!"

"They don't have to know that you're not really on their side!" he pointed out, trying to get me to move, but I held my ground. "He can't…he just _can't _be in love with you!"

"Why not?" I asked, suddenly offended. "Am I _really _that unlovable?" Alright, so I wasn't _really _offended. I just wanted to try to make him forget about the fact that Riddle was in love with me_. Why did I have to bloody tell him?_

"No, it's not that," he corrected quickly. "It's just…how can he be in love with the person that _killed_ him eighteen years ago? How? No offense but if you killed me, I think all I'd want to do is murder you."

"I don't understand it any more than you do!" I snapped. "The Voldemort _I _know doesn't care about anybody, let alone fall in love with them! He never once even took advantage of Bellatrix, and look at how she worships him! It would've been all too easy and in-character for him!"

"How do you know he never took advantage of her?" he asked suspiciously. He had finally given up on trying to get around me and was now standing with his arms crossed childishly, his toe tapping, as if waiting for me to move just slightly out of the way so he could make his move.

"Because it's _Bellatrix_," I explained, "if he had, we would know, believe me."

"That's true," he muttered. "But don't try to get me off topic!" he exclaimed suddenly, stamping his food immaturely.

"Look, I don't understand it anymore than you do," I said, calming down slightly. "But don't you think it's pretty fucking sad that he's in love with the person who killed him? I do. I pity him, if anything. I still hate him, of course, but I pity him."

"Well, I don't pity him, because he takes advantage of the fact that he can control you," he said, lowering his voice a bit. "Can you imagine what type of sick things he can make you do? And you'll do it, because you don't want to blow your cover."

"I know where to draw the line, Regulus," I said, my temper rising again.

"I'm not so sure you do. I mean, what would you do to make sure that you didn't blow your cover?" When I didn't say anything because I didn't know the answer myself, he continued. "I'm only doing this because I care about you, alright? I love you, I love you more than anything, and I can't stand to see you hurt."

"I know, Reg, but I'm not going to be hurt –"

"You can't be sure of that!" he exclaimed. "That's what you said last time, remember? And you didn't come out unharmed."

"But I will this time –"

"What if he…what if, somehow, you fall in love with him?" I made a face at his suggestion.

"Regulus, I hate him more than anything. I hate him so much that every time I'm around him, I feel…I don't even know how I feel. I don't feel like myself. I'm not going to fall in love with him! That's never going to happen!"

"How do you know? You can't control who you're in love with!"

"Yeah, obviously, or right now I sure wouldn't be in love with _you_!"

Shit. I didn't mean that. Not one word of it. Maybe I couldn't choose who to fall in love with, but I know that if I could, there was nobody better to choose than Regulus.

Regulus looked as though I had slapped him. Why had I said that? I'm such a horrible person…But I was too angry to take it back.

"Stop being a prat and move out of the way so I can kill that bloody sick minded bastard!" He was obviously trying to forget what I had said to him, trying to change the subject, and I understood exactly why. "Does he even realize that he's a good fifty years older than you? Probably not! All he thinks about his running his hands all over your body and sticking his tongue down your throat!"

"Look, I don't like this anymore than you do," I snarled suddenly. "I mean, come on! He murdered my parents and _me _in my past life, and now I have to kiss him whenever he tells me to, whether I want to or not? It's the worst thing ever!"

"Then don't go back! Actually, I – I'm not going to let you go back, now that I know this! First he makes you kiss him, what's he going to do next? _Rape _you?" I know my fear that that would happen showed on my face, because he suddenly seemed to soften, but I tried to keep my voice hard and even.

"Look, if it comes to that, I…I'll somehow prevent it. You _know _I'm not going to let him do that, no matter what. It's the most revolting thing I've ever heard in my life! Even if I have to blow my cover, I'm _not _going to do that."

"Yeah, I know you, and I knew you'll do _anything _to make sure you don't blow your cover. Including…including _him_! And I am _not _going to let that happen because, even if it doesn't hurt you _physically_, it'll hurt you emotionally. Things like this leave people scarred for life, Nicole! I don't want that to happen to you!"

"It's not going to! I'll kill him before I have to _do him_!" I yelled. I set my hands on his shoulders and shook him roughly. "I promise, alright?" He stared at me for several moments before he shook his head slowly and shoved his way around me.

"Yeah, well, you've been known to break your promises, haven't you?" So this is how he felt after I told him I didn't want to be in love with him. The words had hurt worse than any curse, any slap, any punch ever could, ever would.

He pulled the door open.

"Regulus, please –"

"I'm not going to go murder him," he said, not even turning around to look at me. "No matter how much I want to. I'm just going to…to go have some time to myself, alright?" As he pulled the door shut behind him, I heard him mutter, "It's not like I could get into that damn Manor anyway."

I felt even more tears falling down my cheeks as soon as the door slammed loudly.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

**(A/N: Here we're off to Regulus' POV for a bit. It won't be long…we just need to see what he's thinking.)**

I couldn't even think as I walked slowly down the empty staircases of Hogwarts. I was too pissed. At _Riddle_, at _Nicole_, at the _world_.

Things had been so much simpler back in the seventies. Back before Nicole went undercover the first time. Sure, our life was still a mess at that time, but it was much easier than now.

_Why am I even so pissed? _I asked myself. _It's not like Nicole can control who falls in love with her. It's not like she can control the fact that she needs to be a spy and that if she doesn't more people will die._

Still…I wasn't happy.

Near the bottom of the stairs, I saw Severus standing at the bottom, watching me.

"What's up with you?" he asked when I reached him. "You look…pissed." I shrugged as I sat down on the stairs. He sat down next to me. "I think you know what's going on, you just don't want to tell me." I sighed.

"Nicole and I…we got into a fight. A pretty big one, I must say." I paused. He didn't even ask why, but I found myself telling him. "She said…she said Riddle is – that he's in love with her."

"Why does that cause a fight?"

"Because…" I paused. Why _had _it caused a fight? _Oh, right – because I wanted to kill him, and she told me not to, and it just went downhill from there. _"I don't really know. I told her I wanted to kill him, but she wouldn't let me. And then, instead of being mad at him, I was mad at _her_. We both said some things we didn't mean."

"Why does that make you so mad?"

"Because he gets to control her," I explained. "You know why. Everything he tells her to do, she _will_. And you and I know it. And…and she said that, if he tries to get her to do more than kiss him, she'll find a way to not do it, even if it means blowing her cover but…but I know her better than that. I _know _she'll do _anything _to make sure she won't blow her cover."

"I know, and I agree with you," Severus said quietly. "But you shouldn't be fighting over stupid things like that."

"But she's my _fiancé. I_ should be the only one that gets to hold her, and kiss her, and love her….What should I do?" Severus was quiet for a long time before he said softly,

"Be there for her." I looked up at him, shocked and confused. He explained. "You think this is bad for _you_? Try being the one who actually has his tongue shoved down your throat. That's what Nicole is dealing with. She told you because she thought you would be supportive, you're one of the few who always is, and…when you weren't…she didn't seem to know how to react."

"She had already had a bad night," I said, suddenly feeling bad. _What had I done? Why had I reacted so horribly? All I could think about was the fact that Riddle was using her…I didn't think about _her _feelings… _"And I just made it worse…God what's wrong with me?" I buried my face in my heads. Severus didn't answer that question and instead asked softly,

"You know how much she loves you, right?" I looked back up at him and nodded slowly. I did, I truly did. "Anybody can tell by the way she looks at you, by the way she looks when she talks about you. And you obviously love her just as much. But…she's gone through a rough time tonight, and she might not be able to see it. You know how naïve she is. I think…I think you should go talk to her."

I nodded slowly. _He's right_, I thought. _Nicole's so naïve. What's she thinking right now? She's probably convinced that I hate her…I could never hate her. I love her more than anything…_

"I need to talk to her," I said suddenly, standing up. I climbed a few stairs before turning back. "Thanks Severus. For everything." He smiled slightly at me over his shoulder.

"You and Nicole are my friends. I'll always be here for you." I smiled at him as I started back up the stairs, but his voice stopped me. "You know, this would a lot less creepy if I weren't eighteen years older than you." I laughed and shook my head slowly.

"It still feels like you're my age to me," I disagreed. "See ya around." I climbed the stairs two at a time, hoping to go find Nicole before she fell asleep. When I got upstairs, I pushed the door to the room Nicole and I stayed in quietly.

She was fast asleep, curled up in a ball on her side. To my surprise, I found she was on my side of the bed and was curled up with her face buried into my pillow. I sighed as I shut the door quietly and made to the bed. As I got closer, I saw that it seemed she had cried herself to sleep, and felt even worse for yelling at her.

I laid down beside her on her side of the bed, still wondering why she was on mine. She didn't like that side…she also didn't like my pillow. Once she called it "too fluffy." But when I laid down and smelt the faint scent of her perfume on her pillow, I realized why.

She had once waited up all night for me to return from a late shift at work. When I had gotten back and asked her why she was still up, she said she couldn't sleep without me next to her. She said it was my scent – it had grown to be comforting to her, and she couldn't sleep without it. Just like her scent was on her pillow, mine was probably on mine.

Since she was facing me, I couldn't help but stare at her until my eyes were drooping shut. _She's so beautiful_, I thought. _So perfect. How could I ever forget how perfect what we have is?_

I don't remember falling asleep, but I must've, because next thing I knew, I was waking up to the sun streaming through the window. Nicole was lying next to me, her eyes open, watching me. As soon as our eyes met, I said,

"I'm so sorry –" but she cut me off.

"Don't say you're sorry," she whispered. "I understand why you said everything you did. You were upset, and I get it. If it were you who had somebody else in love with them, I would be upset too. And…it's not like anything you said was a lie, anyways."

"But I am sorry," I said. "Just…hear me out before you interrupt, okay? I shouldn't have gotten all upset like I did; I should've known how upset you were already and taken the time to tell you that it's all going to be alright. I understand that you have to go back, that you can't quit. It's not your fault that he's in love with you. And…I'm sorry for saying that you don't keep your promises, because you do."

"No I don't," she said slowly.

"Yes, you do," I corrected. "Can I ask you something, though?" I asked suddenly. She nodded slowly. "Do you promise to answer honestly, since you always keep your promises?" She nodded again, looking confused. "If you…if it came to the point that Riddle told you to…well, you know…have sex with him," I cringed at the thought, and could see her visible flinch. "And not doing it meant you would blow your cover, would…would you?"

She swallowed and looked down, away from my face. I knew what was coming before she said it.

"I was thinking about that last night and…y-yeah, I think I would."

I know there was a hurt expression on my face. I couldn't contain it.

"I wish it were different, but…that-that's probably what I would do if I was placed in that situation."

I nodded slowly.

"Yeah…I thought that would be your answer. And…I guess I accept that. Just please promise me that you'll try as much as you can to get out of it, alright?" She nodded slowly.

"I promise." I pressed my forehead against hers gently.

"I love you, you know that, right?" I whispered. "Nothing will change that. Ever." She nodded again.

"I know," she whispered back. "And I love you more."

"Not possible," I said, smiling, before pressing my lips against hers gently and briefly, after which we both sat up and made to get ready.

"What are you doing today?" she asked after she had showered and thrown her hair into a fancy twisted bun, looking through her closet for something to change into. I shrugged, pulling my shirt off to change, and replied,

"Well, we have that meeting for work today at ten. That'll only take an hour or two. That's it, though; Sirius gave me the day off."

She nodded and continued. "I told Dumbledore that, sometime today, you and I would go with him to Grimmauld Place to check it out."

"Why do we need to check out Grimmauld Place?" I asked, confused. "Nobody's been there for eighteen or more years; it's probably gross and grimy."

"Well, last night Draco and I realized how annoying it was to have to come all the way from Honeydukes or the Shrieking Shack every time we come back, so I suggested that we use Grimmauld Place. I hope that doesn't bother you," she added, looking back over her shoulder at me. I shrugged.

"It doesn't bother _me_. But good luck getting Sirius on board."

"He may be Head Auror, but he's not head of the Order. That position belongs to Dumbledore."

"Yeah, I don't know," I corrected, pulling on a tie around my collar. "I think you're starting to take his spot." When she looked over at me, confused, I continued. "He always listens to whatever you say! Have you noticed that? If you tell him that you want to be the Secret Keeper, he'll let you." When I looked over my shoulder and saw the look on her face, I frowned. "You didn't ask to be Secret Keeper, did you?"

"Maybe," she said, cringing slightly. I sighed. "Look, it was Draco's idea, and it won't put me in anymore danger because we're going to tell them that _Dumbledore _is the Secret Keeper." _Well, at least there's that._

"Alright," I said, exasperated. "I guess I can stand for that. But nothing else that'll put you in any more danger, alright?" She nodded, putting on some red heels and pulling a jacket over the dress she was wearing to the meeting.

"I promise. And I'll keep that promise." I finished tying my shoe and walked over to her, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her into another kiss. I moved in to deepen the kiss, but she put her hands on my chest and pushed back lightly.

"Alright, that's enough," she laughed. "We have to go now or we're going to be late to the meeting." I shrugged, moving in to kiss her again.

"We have a little less than ten minutes – that's enough time," I whispered, kissing her neck and sliding my hand down her back. She laughed but shook her head, pulling away and putting her hand on the hand I had on her back to stop it.

"Not now," she said sternly, although she was laughing. "Come on, we have to get going. Sirius is going to hate us if we're late." She grabbed my hand and pulled me from the room before I could make another move.

"Hey Nick," Harry said when he saw us. He wasn't the only one in the room. Mrs. Weasley, Lily, Scarlet, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Draco, Mad-Eye, Fred and George, and the children not yet in Hogwarts were all gathered around.

"Hey," Nicole replied. "What are all of you doing here? It's a Monday – shouldn't you all be in school or at work?"

"Either we don't have classes right now or were off today," Harry replied. "Are you guys off to the same meeting as Dad and the other Aurors?"

"Yep," she replied. "See you all later, then." She pulled me after her out of the room.

"Have fun," Lily called. I snorted.

"Ha, right, as if these meetings are fun."

**Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to givetherabbitthefreakintrix and Rosiline for the reviews!**

**I've finally gotten to 20 chapters! Woohoo!**

**This is back in Nicole's POV.**

Chapter 20

"This place looks disgusting, even from the outside."

"I told you nobody's been here since Mum died thirteen years ago," Regulus pointed out.

The two of us stood outside of Grimmauld Place that afternoon. Dumbledore had bailed on us, saying he had something school related to do that he had forgotten about (I didn't really believe him) but Regulus was going to administer the charm. I could see the sun setting in the east and the full moon starting to rise in the west. I couldn't help but think of the fact that Remus was just minutes from a very painful transformation.

Dust covered the windows and door, and even the black wall looked grosser. I couldn't disguise my disgust as Regulus walked right up the grimy stairs to the battered front door. He waved his wand – since there was no doorknob – and the door flew open.

I half expected Walburga Black's portrait to start screaming insults like she had back in my other life, but she didn't. She was silent. She was probably waiting to see who was trespassing in her house before she started screaming at us. Or maybe she was sleeping and wouldn't wake up the entire time we were there if we were quiet…but I didn't want to jinx it.

The door slammed shut by itself behind me, and the lights flickered on. I saw Walburga Black's sunken eyes on us all as she watched Regulus for a moment before she started her usual screaming. The rest of the portraits down the hall woke and began screaming as well.

"You!" she said quietly but dangerously when her eyes landed on Regulus. "You're supposed to be dead. You blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh! You were so much better than your brother, but –"

"Oh, shut up, you," Regulus said. He flicked his wand and silenced not only her, but the rest of the portraits as well. She continued to yell and scream from her frame, but it was in silence. "How did you ever keep her quiet?" he asked, turning to me.

"Somebody put curtains up around her frame," I answered. "But it didn't do much, because any time somebody rose their voice above a whisper in the hallway she woke up and started again."

"Can we just take her portrait down?"

"It's stuck on with a Permanent Sticking Charm," I said as we entered the house fully.

"This is even worse than the outside," Regulus muttered. "Do you suppose Kreacher's still here?"

"Probably," I replied. "Where else would he go? He was only loyal to you and your mother." I paused as we looked into the filthy dinning room. "Call him. Although if he is here, I don't understand why he would let this place get _this _filthy."

"Kreacher!" Regulus called. There was a _pop__! _and Kreacher appeared before him, looking confused and shocked.

"Master Regulus?" he asked in a hoarse, deep voice. Even his voice, usually devoid of emotion, sounded shocked and…excited? "Master Regulus?" he repeated. Regulus nodded, and, after a few moments of staring at him, shocked, Kreacher bent down in a low bow.

"Mater Regulus," he said to the floor, admonished. "Kreacher is hearing rumors that Master Regulus is killed by Miss Bella years ago."

"Yeah, well, that's not true, Kreacher," Regulus replied. "Bellatrix didn't kill me. I just went forward in time." He paused, giving no other explanation. "Kreacher, has anybody been here since Mum died?"

"No, Kreacher has been alone these past thirteen years," Kreacher replied.

"Why did you let the place get so nasty, then?" I asked before I could stop myself. Kreacher stood back up and looked at me, trying to figure out who I was. Regulus grabbed my arm and pulled me forward lightly so that I was next to him, not behind him.

"Kreacher, I'd like you to meet Nicole Potter. Or, as you may know her, Nicole Sawyer," he said slowly. Kreacher's face suddenly filled with recognition.

"The blood traitor, half-blood who killed the Dark Lord?" he asked, his voice sounding slightly angry. Regulus glared at him.

"You will refrain from calling her a blood traitor, half-blood, or anything else insulting," he snarled. Kreacher frowned at his tone of voice.

"Is she the Mudblood and blood-traitors' daughter?"

"Don't insult her family either," Regulus said angrily.

"Why does Master Regulus care?" Regulus looked furious. He knelt down and grabbed Kreacher's outfit by the scruff of his neck, looking him right into his eyes.

"Because Nicole happens to be my fiancé." I had never seen a house-elf look so shocked before, even when Regulus had walked in after being "dead" for eighteen years. "And you will obey her like you obey me and treat her with just as much respect. She's going to be the Mistress of this house soon, and you'll treat her like it."

Even though I preferred to fight my own battles, I have to say it was nice to see somebody standing up for me for once. Usually, it was me standing up for my loved ones, not the other way around. I suppose that's probably because my loved ones don't spend as much time with people they hate that are likely to insult me, or, if they do, can't defend me or they'll blow their cover. To be honest, though, it felt nice for somebody to finally stand up for me.

"Yes, Master Regulus, of course," Kreacher said, bowing again.

"Okay, Kreacher, so we need to talk to you," Regulus continued. "You can stand up straight now; you don't have to bow all the time." Kreacher stood back up, shot me a short glare, and turned his attention to Regulus, his eyes full of admiration. "Kreacher, you know what the Order of the Phoenix is, right?"

"Kreacher has heard of them," he replied. "They're the blood traitors that fight against the Dark Lord and his followers."

"Well, yeah, but don't call them blood traitors or mudbloods, half breeds or…or werewolves or anything like that, alright?" he said in a patronizing tone. "Well we are going to be using this place as their headquarters for the next…well, for a while." Obviously Regulus, like myself, had no idea how long this war would last. I know he hoped it would be fast (of course he did, who wouldn't?), but we both knew that it was highly unlikely.

"If you could…clean it up a bit, we won't be here for the next few days –"

"Actually, Dumbledore wanted to move everybody here tomorrow," I interrupted. Regulus turned to me, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked. "How does he expect us to get this place cleaned up that fast?"

"Well, in the other time, everybody helped. The kids and all."

"A lot of the kids are in school right now," Regulus pointed out. "They won't be here to help. Although I suppose a lot of people _will_. I forgot to ask; how many people will there be? We have ten bedrooms; I'm guessing we could put two in each room."

"Us, clearly, Sirius and Scarlet, James and Lily, Frank and Alice, Gideon and Fabian, Molly and Weasley, Remus and Tonks – or just Tonks, since Remus stays at Hogwarts – Kingsley and Mary, and then the children, obviously. Parker and Leah and Amanda and Teddy, when he comes."

"Shit," Regulus muttered. "That's a lot of people. But it'll work."

"And Fred and George and Mad-Eye," I added quickly. "By the way, why the _hell _does this house have so many bedrooms?" Regulus shook his head slowly.

"I have no idea. The fourth floor has four bedrooms stuffed into it," he replied. "So that should be enough rooms, even when the school year's over and we have students that have to stay here too."

"Oh my God, it's going to be so crowded," I muttered as we entered the house fully to examine it. "We should at least get rid of the dust." We both drew our wands, waved them once, and most of the dust siphoned itself away. "Well, at least it looks a little better," I grimaced.

"Kreacher, we need you to help us get this place as clean as possible before tomorrow," Regulus said. "You can do that, can't you?"

"Of course, Master Regulus," Kreacher said, bowing again. "Kreacher will start with the basement."

"Alright, enough bowing," Regulus said again. "And yes, please go do that. Nicole and I are going to go look around, make sure nothings _too _horrible, and decide where everybody's going to stay, alright?" Kreacher nodded before sauntering off down the hallway to the stairs.

"Lemme tell you something, if it's not stuck on with a Permanent Sticking Charm, we have _got _to get rid of those elf heads," I muttered as we started up the stairs. Regulus shook his head slowly.

"Everything Mum put up, she used a Permanent Sticking Charm on," he said. "But, believe me; I'm going to find a way to get rid of most of it. If not _all _of it, even the furniture, so we can just start the entire house over."

"Why do you care so much about erasing everything from it? After the war is over, nobody's going to ever come here again," I pointed out. Regulus shrugged, poking his head into the upstairs drawing room.

"This is disgusting," he muttered. "What has Kreacher been doing this entire time?" He paused and pulled the door to the room shut behind him. "Who knows how long this war is going to last," he said, finally answering my question. "We may have the entire Order living here at some point. Can you imagine how many people that would be? It'd be impossible to keep Mum quiet. And…well, I had always imagined moving back here after I got married." I found myself staring at him in disbelief. I laughed slightly.

"You're kidding, right?" I asked. "Please tell me you're kidding," I said, almost begging.

"Why is that such a horrible thing?" he asked. "It's my childhood home, it's really magnificent…you know, when it's clean, and filled with life, not death."

"Well then what about the outside? It's a sinister neighborhood and, obviously, we aren't…well, sinister."

"Yeah, I know, but just a couple city blocks over they have a nice Muggle school, which doesn't really matter but still, and a nice park, and an ice cream parlor, a Muggle supermarket…you get the idea."

"Fine, but what are we _ever _going to do with all those extra bedrooms?" I asked. Looking back now…why was I _ever_ so stupid? It's obvious what he was implying.

"Well, we could leave a few – or several – for when we have guests visit," he said slowly. "Since we're both so popular," he added jokingly. I laughed and rolled my eyes. "I was thinking, for the rest, we could, y'know, fill them."

"With what?" I asked. Regulus sighed, looking irritated. I was still utterly baffled.

"With _children_," he said finally. "I was hoping to, y'know, raise a family here." I felt my self immediately frown. I hadn't ever really wanted kids. I didn't want to bring one into his horrible world when they would likely just despise me for doing so. Not to mention, I would be a horrible mother. I could just see myself thinking that leaving a one year old alone for _hours _is alright.

"Kids?" I found myself whispering. "Do you think about that stuff a lot?"

"Well yeah," he replied, smiling. I guess he took my expression to mean, _Yeah, okay, I see. Maybe this house isn't so bad after all_. "I realize you're still sixteen, and I'm only nineteen, we still have a while before we really need to think about that, but I see Sirius and Scarlet with Leah and Parker, and Tonks and Remus with Teddy on the way and…I want that." He set his hand on my cheek and set his forehead against mine. "With you."

It was then that Regulus realized that the look on my face wasn't joy, but horror.

"What's wrong?" he asked, leaning back a bit and dropping his hand.

"It's nothing," I said quickly, shaking my head and looking down.

"Obviously it's something." I sighed.

"It's just…I've never really wanted kids," I said quietly. I knew it would cost him to hear it. Now that he said it, I could see him as always having wanted kids, even when he was younger. He was probably one of those kids who always dreamt of falling in love and having a huge family.

Regulus took a step back, looking shocked.

"You…you don't?" he asked hoarsely. I shook my head slowly.

"I-I'm sorry," I added quickly after he turned around, looking stressed, and ran his fingers through his hair. "It's just…with everything that I've lived through, I don't…I've never wanted to bring somebody in this world only for them to have to live through that." Regulus turned back to me, his face softened a bit. He grabbed my elbows.

"Nicki, once this is over, it's _over_," he said forcefully. "Extra precautions are going to be taken to be sure that this doesn't happen again. No dark wizard will ever be able to get as powerful as Voldemort. It's not like they'll even bother trying, with you around," he added jokingly. The corners of my lips twitched up slightly, but only for a moment.

"I just…I don't know," I said quietly, shaking my head. "It's just…I still don't really want kids." Regulus sighed, looking a little hurt.

"I'm not saying I want them _now_," he said. "Just…eventually. You don't want kids _ever_?" I shook my head slowly. He sighed again. "Well, I can't force you. It'll be your body it's changing; you're the one who has to give birth. It's just…think about, alright?"

"Alright," I said quietly. "But I doubt whether I'll change my mind." Regulus turned around and headed for the bedroom, shaking his head.

"It's a shame," I heard him mutter. "You're great with kids, and would be an amazing mother." I stopped in my tracks and turned slowly to face him.

"What?" I asked quietly, shocked. Regulus turned back around, looking confused. "You actually think _I'd _make a good mom?"

"Well, you might be a little overprotective, since that's how you are with everybody you love, but Parker and Leah adore you," he said. "Amanda Shacklebolt, too. And every kid I know who's younger than you, even just a year or two, like Miles and Daniela."

"Really?" I asked quietly. He nodded slowly before forcing the door to the bedroom, which was jammed, open. A huge pile of dust flew out at him. I couldn't help but laugh as he brushed it away and sneezed twice. "Bless you," I muttered as I followed him to the room.

I think, so far, this was the worst room. I couldn't even see the colors of the walls, they were so covered in dust. Dirt and grime billowed up around us as we walked through, and I found myself slowly becoming queasy.

"You okay?" Regulus asked, noticing the grimace on my face. I nodded slowly.

"Yeah, it's just…I feel suddenly nauseous," I answered.

"Maybe you're getting sick," Regulus said, setting the back of his hand on my forehead to check my temperature. "You don't feel warm."

"No, I…I can't be getting sick," I said, shaking my head. But it just made me feel worse, so I stopped. "I never get sick." 

"Everybody gets sick every now and then," Regulus said. "Why don't you go back to the castle and see if Madam Pomfrey can give you something?" I shook my head slowly.

"No…I'll be fine," I said. "Besides, we need to do the Charm." But my head was spinning, and I had to lean onto the nearby wall to stay upright. I saw Regulus' eyes widen in surprise and he said.

"Yeah, I'm taking you back, you look really pale," he said, letting me lean onto him instead of the wall and leading me out to the hallway. "We can do the Charm real quick, but that's it."

"Can you and Kreacher get the whole place clean alone?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure we can," Regulus replied. "_Or _I can see if Mary and Lily will come help."

He quickly performed the spell, which was actually easier than I thought – he said the words, his wand pointed at me, and, after these weird golden bonds had wrapped around me, there was a flash of golden light and the bonds were gone.

"That's it?" I asked, confused.

"Sure is," Regulus replied. "Now come on."

"Wait!" I said suddenly. "Can I see your room before we leave?"

"Um, no," Regulus said slowly. I'm sure I looked affronted. "I'm sorry," he added quickly, "it's just, the last time I was here was when I was into Slytherin Voldemort and that 'pureblood supremacy' shit, and it's still all up in my room. It's kind of embarrassing."

"Come on," I pleaded, but he shook his head.

"Please, don't make me." I sighed, but agreed and grabbed his arm so that he could Side-Along me to Hogsmeade. We sent a Patronus up to Severus, but it was Draco who came down and let us in.

"Hey," he said. "Where have you two been?"

"Cleaning up Grimmauld Place," Regulus replied. The gates locked themselves shut behind us. "It's disgusting. That's why we're covered in dirt." Draco nodded. I stumbled sideways into Regulus, who grabbed me.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked, shocked. I nodded, but Regulus obviously didn't believe me.

"Are you sure you can walk?" he asked, his voice sounding worried. I nodded, but stumbled again. The world was spinning around me _What's going on? _I thought. It had all come so suddenly. I hardly noticed when Regulus scooped me up into his arms and rushed to the Hospital Wing.

I don't remember arriving there.

**A/N: We get to see more of Riddle next chapter. ^_^ Have you missed him?**

**Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to Rosiline, Blizzen, littledhampir13, and givetherabbitthefreakintrix for the reviews!**

**I'd just like to warn you all that school starts on Friday for me, so updates might be a little slower. I'll try to update once a week, but no promises.**

Chapter 21

The next thing I remembered was a blinding light. And pain. But it wasn't normal pain; it was just soreness. I didn't remember anything that had happened for several minutes; I couldn't have told you my own name if you had asked.

But then, finally, my eyes opened suddenly and I took in my settings.

I was in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts. It was light outside, and looked to be the middle of the day. Regulus was in a chair beside the bed I was in, his head lolling backwards against the back of the chair, his eyes closed. I briefly thought he was asleep, but then I saw him idly twirling his wand in his hands and I knew he was really awake.

"Regulus?" I asked quietly, my voice hoarse. His eyes flew open immediately and he leaned toward me, taking my hand in his.

"Hey babe," he whispered, leaning forward and kissing my forehead. "How're you feeling?"

"What happened to me?" I asked, ignoring his question. "The last thing I remember was…was Draco letting us in…and…and…feeling really sick and sore and…What happened?" I finished lamely.

"Ah, Miss Potter, I thought I heard voices." Madam Pomfrey had come rushing out of office at the sound of our voices. She had a glass of a golden potion that she handed to me. I sat up and swallowed it; to be honest, it tasted pretty good. Better than anything she had ever forced me to drink before.

"What happened?" I asked again, still having not received an answer.

"Well…you sort of passed out," Regulus began slowly.

"Well, duh," I said sarcastically. "Or else I would remember arriving here. What I wanna know is _why _I passed out?"

"Miss Potter, something like this only happens when one has been exposed to certain so called 'Dark Magics' for extensive periods of time," Madam Pomfrey said suddenly, taking it from Regulus, who seemed not to know what to say. "And not like the Cruciatus, I mean…_different_ curses."

"Like what?" I asked, confused. I hadn't been exposed to any Dark Magic for any extensive period of time except the Cruciatus, had I?

"Like the Tracking Curse that was on the fake ring," she said.

"But…_what?_" I asked, bewildered. That was a Charm he had used on it, a Tracking _Charm_, not Curse. Right…?

"There's a Charm that does a very similar thing, but it was the Curse that was used on the ring," she explained. "Long periods of exposure to it will randomly make you feel nauseous. It'll only take a few minutes before you start to trip, and then you pass out. Once you're out, your life slowly drains from you until there's nothing left."

"So it…feeds off of your life?" I asked, confused and shocked. _Why had Riddle used that on me? I thought he had said he cared about me. I know he may not know how to treat somebody he cares about, but he's not _stupid_, he wouldn't _kill _them._

"Basically," Madam Pomfrey said. "Professor Snape had a heck of a time getting that ring off of you. It sticks itself on, see. He says he believes You-Know-Who didn't realize that it would do that because he obviously has no intention of killing you, or he would've already." She shoved another potion into my hands. "Drink it. I'll be back in a few to see if all of the Dark Magic has left your system yet."

"You know," I said to Regulus quietly as I watched her hurry away to check one her other patients, a young boy with a broken ankle. "You don't realize how much that lady knows about what's going on with the fight against Voldemort." I turned back to face him. "So what was Severus doing here?"

"Even Madam Pomfrey couldn't figure it out," he said. "She knew it was Dark Magic, but didn't know what it was. So she had to call Severus, who figured it out quiet quickly. Then the ring was almost sown into your skin, and he had to honestly break your finger to get it off." I looked down at my finger, which, now that I looked, was wrapped. "It's fixed now, but it was broken."

"How long has it been?" I asked.

"Just about twelve hours," Regulus said, shrugging. I noticed the bags under his eyes. He hadn't slept at all.

"You look tired."

"No, I'm alright," he replied, but he had to stifle a yawn at that exact moment. I rose my eyebrows, skeptical. "Alright, maybe a little," he admitted.

"Did you sleep at all?" He gave me an "are-you-stupid?" look.

"Would _you _sleep if I was in your position and you were in mine?" he asked. I understood his point immediately – no, I wouldn't dare even _close_ my eyes for fear of falling asleep.

"Oh," I replied. "Right." I paused. "Where's the ring now?"

"Dumbledore has it in his office," Regulus replied. We sat there, unsure what to say to one another, before Madam Pomfrey came bustling back over.

"Alright, I'm going to check to see if all of the Dark Magic has left your system, alright?" she said. I nodded, not really paying attention. "It's just a Charm, so you don't have to worry about anything." She waved her wand and waited several minutes. It seemed to do nothing, but a few moments later she said, "Alright, you should be good to go. Come back tomorrow morning so I can check on you one final time, alright?" I nodded as I climbed out of the bed.

"Thanks Madam Pomfrey," I called to her, but she was too busy fussing over a new student that had entered the Hospital Wing. I rolled my eyes and followed Regulus out of the room. "Are we still moving everybody tonight?" I asked him as we started for the Entrance Hall.

"As far as I know," he said, intertwining his fingers with mine. "I haven't seen Dumbledore. I'm sure he'd probably still want to get there as soon as possible, which would be tonight."

"Oh, how nice of him," I muttered as we entered the nearly empty Entrance Hall. There must be classes at the moment. I stopped at the entrance to the dungeons. "Hey, I'm going to see if I can find Severus. Tell him thanks for, y'know, pretty much saving my life."

"Want me to come?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I'll be alright. You should go ask Dumbledore if we're still moving tonight and, if so, go tell those in the Room of Requirement." He nodded, kissed me lightly, and headed up the stairs. I started down the dungeons.

I headed straight for the Potions room. Chances were that he had a class at the moment. I decided to be polite and knocked on the door instead of just walking right in, like I normally would. To my surprise, I stood there for several minutes with no answer. Finally, I pushed the door open.

The room was empty. _Hmm…he must not have a class_, I thought, closing the door behind me. _I suppose he's probably in his office_…I headed over to his office and knocked on the door. Yet again, there was no answer. I pushed the door open to find the room empty as well, and knocked on the door that led to his personal living quarters. There was no answer, and, since I understood that he probably wanted some privacy, I left without walking in.

I figured that Regulus would still be in Dumbledore's office, not yet in the Room of Requirement, so instead of heading straight to the Room of Requirement I headed to his office. Even if Regulus wasn't there, I could stop to talk to Dumbledore. Maybe he knew where Severus was…

I walked swiftly up to Dumbledore's office and gave the stone gargoyle the list. At the top of the so instead of heading straight to the Room of Requirement I headed to his office. Even if Regulus wasn't there, I could stop to talk to Dumbledore, get the ring back. Maybe he knew where Severus was…

I walked swiftly up to Dumbledore's office and gave the stone gargoyle the list. At the top of the spiral staircase, I could hear two voices on the other side of the wooden door. Unlike what I had done in the dungeons, I just pushed the door wide open, saying, as I did so,

"Hey, have you seen Sev –" I stopped in my tracks when I saw who Dumbledore was _really _talking to. "– erus?" I finished lamely and quietly.

It wasn't Regulus sitting across from Dumbledore.

It was Riddle.

Both Dumbledore and Riddle were watching me and smiling. Riddle's smile was very malicious, and Dumbledore had that obnoxious twinkle in his eyes. I was so shocked and, to be honest, _frightened_ that all I could do for several minutes was stare from one to the other.

"Nicole, this is our new transfer student, Marcus Gaunt," Dumbledore said after several moments of silence, pretending to be oblivious as to why I looked so upset.

"Hello," Riddle said in a fake and sickly sweet voice, standing up and holding his hand out to me. "It's nice to meet you. Are you a student here?" I shook myself clear mentally and took his hand firmly in mine, shaking it.

"No, I was," I said. "I've graduated. Where are you transferring from?"

"I was homeschooled, but my teacher, my Grandmother, passed. So my parents sent me here. I'm going to be entering my sixth year." I smiled slightly as he sat back down. I could tell he knew my ring had been in the office, and I hadn't been. I turned back to Dumbledore as he asked,

"Are you feeling better, Nicole?"

"Loads," I replied. "You know Madam Pomfrey. She works wonders. Anyways, have you seen Severus?"

"Can't say I have," Dumbledore replied. I sighed, annoyed.

"Alright. Has Regulus been here?"

"Yeah, he left just before Marcus arrived." I could see Riddle's eyes flash anger at the mention of Regulus, but he didn't say or do anything for fear of blowing his cover. However, when Dumbledore's back was turned, still smiling maliciously, he mouthed to me; _Tonight. Same time. Same place._

"Well, Nicole, if that was all you needed –" Dumbledore started.

"Yeah, I…I'll just be leaving then," I said, turning and leaving the room as quickly as possible.

_Well_, I thought once I was headed back to the Room of Requirement. _At least this time he wasn't shoving his tongue down my throat….But don't worry_, my more rational side said. _He will tonight._

I walked past the blank wall three times, per usual, and the door appeared instantly. I pushed it open and walked into the Common Room area.

"We can't leave Hogwarts!" somebody exclaimed as the door opened. "What about all of the children that are in school? With Riddle here it's not safe! We can't just leave them!" As the door shut behind me, I realized it was Alice saying this to Regulus, who looked helpless.

"You can't think Riddle will do something right under Dumbledore's nose," Regulus pointed out, obviously just trying to get the angry mother to calm down. Alice wasn't the only one riled up. Tonks was glaring daggers at her cousin, and Molly was glaring at him as well, and Lily and James merely looked upset. There were others in the room, but none of them seemed as irritated.

"He's already here right under his nose," Tonks pointed out, her voice louder than it should have been indoors. "It seems there are no limits to him!"

"Oh, shut up, all of you!" I snapped suddenly, alerting those in the room to my presence for the first time since I had entered. "It's not like Regulus _chose _to have you all move tonight. It was all Dumbledore's idea. Well…it was his idea to move _today_."

"I don't care _when _we move!" Tonks snarled. "I don't want to move _period!_" I shrugged.

"That's too bad. Because you kinda have to." She gave me a confused glance and I continued before she could respond. "Riddle knows about this place. And he knows I know about it. I bet he already has the idea that we're using it as Headquarters." I paused. "Did I tell you that he has plans to kill everybody in the Order?"

I saw almost everybody's eyes widen.

"Yeah, so either we leave, or he will come here and kill us all. I know you're worried about Remus, and all of your children, but with Remus, Severus, Harry, Draco, and Dumbledore, they should all be safe. And you know I make regular checks back here. They'll all be fine." They all sighed reluctantly.

"So where is this place, anyway?" Severus asked. I hadn't noticed him sitting near the Prewett twins in the far corner, away from the chaos. "Regulus said you were Secret-Keeper, so he can't tell us."

"It's…" I glanced to Sirius worriedly, not sure how he would react. "It's Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place."

There was silence following my words. Most of them didn't know where that was, but a few (Sirius, Scarlet, James, and Lily included) knew. The three looked at Sirius apprehensively. I could see his eyes wide with shock, and then anger crossed them.

"No, I'm not going back to that hellhole," he spat viciously.

"What is it?" Fabian asked, confused. "I've never heard of it before."

"It's where Sirius and I grew up," Regulus answered. Everybody in the room understood instantly; they all knew that Sirius hadn't had a particularly good home life growing up.

"Damn, that stinks," George said finally. I nodded and addressed Sirius.

"I know, it sucks, and I'm sorry, Sirius, but it won't be the same as before," I promised. "It's not the house that makes the home, it's those in it. And we can all clean it up, and, if you're actually nice to him, Kreacher can actually be helpful, and we can find a way to take down everything that we don't want there that's stuck on using Permanent Sticking Charms, and make it all nice and homey, alright?"

"I know, it's just…" Sirius started. I smiled slightly.

"I know," I said. "I have some particularly…_harsh_ memories from, and relating to, that place, and I'm not keen on going back there either. Ask Regulus if you don't believe me," I added, and could see Regulus nodding in agreement out of the corner of my eyes. "But it's the safest option we have. And we could use the Borrow or something, but it's not large enough to hold everybody." Sirius sighed, admitting defeat.

"Alright, but only because you leave me no other option. I want everybody to be safe."

"I know," I replied. "Now everybody should get to packing, we have a few hours before we have to leave but we want to find time to talk to everybody staying here." Everybody split up to their separate rooms as I approached Severus.

"Hey," I said to him, sitting down across from him. He smiled, but didn't say anything. "Thanks for…well…saving my life." He shrugged casually.

"You'd do the same for me," he pointed out.

"Yes, I would, and you'd still thank me, wouldn't you?" I said. He smiled slightly and nodded.

"Probably, yeah." I smiled.

"Exactly. So, thank you."

"You're welcome. You better go pack," he pointed out. I nodded. "See ya in a bit, then," he said.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I hate this," Sirius muttered that night once we had all moved to Grimmauld Place. It had taken longer than had been expected. Not that it mattered; nothing could take my mind off of the fact that at midnight, I would once again be under the sole control of Tom Riddle.

"At least it's clean," Regulus pointed out. "You don't even want to know what it looked like last night."

"Kreacher works wonders when you're kind to him," I agreed. "Look, he even got rid of the Elf Heads and your mother's portrait, somehow."

"Yeah, he and I figured out how to earlier when I came by," Regulus said. A few hours previously, he had headed out to the house to see how clean it was and was surprised by just how spotless Kreacher had made it. I actually thought it was a nice house when there weren't ugly portraits and Elf Heads on the walls and dust bunnies covering the floor.

"How'd you do it?" Sirius asked.

"Kreacher's magic can do it," Regulus replied, shrugging. "It was simple enough."

"How many bedrooms does this ruddy house have?" Mad-Eye grunted suddenly. "If we're all going to fit, it's got to have loads."

"It does," Sirius replied. "It has ten."

"Holey shit," James muttered. Lily was so shocked she didn't even have time to reprimand him. "I knew this house was huge, but I didn't know it was _that _huge."

It took a few minutes to show everybody to their rooms, but it didn't take long before Regulus and I were bidding Sirius, Scarlet, Leah, and Parker goodnight on the fifth floor. The small family entered Sirius' room. I could see a poster of a bikini-clad Muggle girl before the door shut behind Scarlet, who didn't seemed bothered by it at all.

I laughed lightly at the two. I don't know if there were ever two people more made for each other.

_Except for maybe Regulus and I_, I thought haughtily.

"Okay, promise not to judge me based on my old room, alright?" Regulus said suddenly. I turned to face him and shrugged when I found him leaning against the door to his room.

"I won't," I replied. "I promise."

"I tried to change it up a bit before you came, since I'm a completely different person then I used to be," he said. "I have to say, with Kreacher's help, it turned out really well."

"Let me see," I said, curious as to how different it would look. I had seen it only once in my other time, when I had walked into it out of boredom, but if he thought I would like it, he must've changed it quite a bit.

Regulus moved out of the way so that I had easy access to the door. I moved to open it, but when my hand was on the doorknob, my vision was suddenly blocked.

"Regulus!" I exclaimed, trying to pull his hand off of my eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Oh just open the damn door," Regulus replied. Bewildered, I pushed the door open. "Now take a few steps forward." Still confused, still blindfolded, I moved forward four steps. "Ready?"

"Sure," I replied, puzzled. He moved his hand, and I let out a gasp at the sight before my eyes.

I swear that there's no way it was the same room as it was back in my other time. Sure, it was the same shape, with doors and windows in the same place, but other than that, it was completely different.

Last I knew, it had been covered in green and silver, and in pictures and newspaper clippings about Voldemort. But now, it was completely different.

The previously green walls were now beige; the bed was covered in light blue, ivory, and brown; the Black Family Motto, which was previously embellished above the bed, had been replaced with the words "Always & Forever" in calligraphy over the headboard. All of the newspaper clippings had been thrown away; instead, framed photos of Regulus and I had been stuck on the wall. Brown curtains hung over the floor-to-ceiling windows on the side wall, the old chandelier had been replaced by a newer one, and the wooden furniture had been painted white.

I turned to face him, and found him leaning against the doorframe, smirking.

"Like it?" he asked.

"It's perfect," I replied, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Could you see yourself living here for the duration of the war?" he asked, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me closer to him. I kissed him briefly before replying.

"After all of the renovations, I could see us living here even _after _the war."

**A/N: ****Okay, I know I promised Riddle this chapter, and he's there for a moment, but not long. He'll be back next chapter!**

**Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

_**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER COINTAINS MENTIONS OF RAPE AND SOME MATURE THEMES! I am changing the rating of this story to "M" because of this and some more possible scenes later…and because I'm just paranoid. I hope this doesn't bother you too much! If I go into too much I'll warn you ahead of time in case you don't want to read it.**_

**A/N: Thanks to sheeiilaa, Blizzen, Rosiline, PenNameless1994, and BigSisRD for the reviews!**

**Sorry it's a little late, but, as I said, school started, so I'm kinda busier than I used to be. Updates might be more like every 10 days or so instead of every week for a while, maybe even every two weeks. Sorry!**

Chapter 22

I had almost forgotten.

I had almost forgotten that I had to go to Malfoy Manor at midnight that night. Riddle would never forgive me if I just didn't show up; not to mention, it would blow my cover, something I couldn't risk doing.

So there I was, at midnight, sitting in the same chair, with the same chains around my wrists, in the same room, with the same person.

At least there was no making out.

_Yet_, I thought bitterly.

It was completely silent in the room. I didn't dare break the silence, while Riddle paced. And paced. And paced. Around and around the table I sat at, around and around the room. Until finally, after what felt like hours of staring at the wall, he stopped right in front of me. He leaned his palms on the table, leaning toward me until our nose were almost touching.

"What happened to the ring?" he asked quietly but dangerously. "It says, even right now, that it's in Dumbledore's office." 

"Because you nearly killed me with that fucking ring," I snapped suddenly. He frowned, and what could only be described as fear flicked through his eyes.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked angrily.

"You put _Dark Magic_ on the stupid ring!" I exclaimed.

"What? No I didn't!" he exclaimed. "It was a charm!"

"No it wasn't!" I said. "It was Dark Magic! There's a charm and a Dark Magic spell that do the same thing, and you thought you used the charm, but you didn't!"

"Well why does it matter? That shouldn't have almost killed you! You made that up!"

"No, I didn't! Long periods of exposure to something with that kind of Dark Magic on it will slowly drain the life of somebody! It will make you suddenly nauseous, then you'll pass out, and if nobody's around to take it off of you, then you'll die! I got all the way to the passed out stage before Severus yanked the ring off me!"

"Well, I must say, I'm very glad that it didn't kill you," Riddle said quietly. "That would be…counter-productive." _…Huh? _I thought.

"Of what?" I asked suspiciously after a moment.

"Well, I can't tell you that now can I?"

"Why not?" I asked apprehensively. He shrugged, lifting his eyebrows slightly.

"You'll find out eventually," he said before leaning back away from me and turning to look out the large windows. "Now, I need to talk to you about your honest opinions on the best tactics to try and take the Ministry on the 31st."

"To be honest," I said slowly. "I don't think it's such a good idea." Riddle narrowed his eyes at me distrustfully. I sighed. "Alright, fine. I _do _think it's a good idea, to take the ministry; eventually. But it's best to do that when you have the right amount of people and resources and planning, and I frankly don't think you'll be able to get all that you need to take it in less than a month."

"Well, I suppose you will be of no help to me then," he muttered. "But you'll see, on the 31st, when the Ministry is in my control."

It was silent again, but only for a few minutes.

"Who would you pick?" he asked suddenly. I was confused. What the hell was he talking about? 

"Huh?" was all I could get out.

"Who would you pick if you could only pick one? Regulus; or me?" He paused and turned back to me, his eyebrows rose. "Pick the right answer."

"Regulus," I answered without thinking about the last thing he had added. "Of course I'd pick Reg –"

But I couldn't finish, because suddenly pain seared through my veins. It felt like the Cruciatus, though I knew it couldn't be, because Riddle hadn't even taken his hands out of his pockets, and I knew he couldn't perform wandless magic. I also knew it wasn't because, to be honest, it actually felt quite a bit more painful than the Cruciatus.

I involuntarily arched my back, squeezing my eyes shut tightly and screaming. My wrists were uncontrollably trying to yank free of their restraints and my ankles, which had since been tied to the legs of the chair, were doing the same.

After a few minutes of the white hot blades – or maybe the _flames_ – stopped, and I found myself panting.

"I'm going to ask you again," Riddle said after a minute. "Who would you pick?"

"Regulus," I said through clenched teeth, refusing to give into his little "game." The pain came again, stronger and longer this time. I tried to clench my teeth, to keep from screaming, but it was impossible. When it was finished this time, I was actually on the verge of tears.

"Who would you pick?"

"Regulus!" I screamed. I don't really know if I was answering his question, or if I was screaming _for _Regulus. All I know was that by the time the torture ended – it was again harder and longer than before – I was fighting back tears and my bottom lip was quivering.

"I can do this all night," Riddle said calmly. "You, on the other hand, cannot."

"Wh…what do you…m-mean?" I panted, clenching my teeth and forcing myself to hold back tears.

"After a few hours of this, it will slowly drain your life from you."

"You won't k-kill me," I muttered.

"Won't I?" he asked, turning back to look out the window again.

"No," I said. "Y-you care too…too much about me," I said. "You love me too much."

I hadn't meant to say it. It just slipped out. I knew he wouldn't take me knowing his little secret too well. I knew he was bound to use more torture. Maybe even kill me, rather than admit that he actually had a weakness.

It was silent in the room. I was staring at the ceiling rather than Riddle, waiting for the pain, or the green light that would end it all. The tears that had previously threatened to pour over finally did. At first, it was just one. Then a few more. And then it was a steady stream, and I couldn't stop it.

Finally, Riddle sighed deeply and, to my surprise, no more torture, no death that I had expected came.

"I have given a fair bit of thought on that topic," he said quietly. "And have come to the conclusion that yes; you are right."

Even though I had already known it to be true, no matter what he would've said trying to deny it, it still came as a huge shock to me. I found my eyes widening and I had to force myself to hold back the gasp that came up my throat.

It was silent for a few minutes. The tears falling down my face finally started to slow down, though they didn't completely stop. I didn't particularly like having the darkest wizard alive in love with me. Obviously.

In fact, the only reason I had stopped crying was because of how angry I suddenly was. I wanted nothing more than to scream at him, but I knew it would get me nowhere. On the bright side, at least I could use the fact that he loved me to my advantage. Not too horribly, of course, I could never do that to anybody, but at least use it a little.

"But…but if that's true, then…then why do you insist on always hurting me?" I asked after several moments. Riddle looked over his shoulder at me, went to turn back to the window, but did a double-take. He must've just realized that I had been crying because he looked shocked and confused, maybe even a little upset.

"Why wouldn't I?" he asked, staring at me. I refused to meet his eyes – I wasn't afraid of him, by no means, but I was ashamed of having cried.

"Because you're not supposed to hurt people you care about," I replied, not sure how he didn't know that. "I mean, just the thought of Reg –" I cut myself off just before saying his name and changed direction quickly. "– of anybody I love being hurt upsets me." Riddle's eyes flashed anger, probably at the fact that I had almost mentioned Regulus again, but he didn't do or say anything.

"Why, though?" he asked. I shrugged.

"I don't really know," I replied. "But when you truly and honestly care about somebody, you want them to be happy. And torturing somebody clearly doesn't make them happy. It puts them in pain, which _should _cause you pain, as well."

"I still don't get why."

"Then I don't believe that you honestly and truly care for me," I said. He stared at me blankly, actually looking a little hurt. "If you did, then you would know exactly what I mean."

Riddle stared at me for a moment before he walked swiftly over to me. At the same time, the chains around my wrists unraveled themselves. By the time they were gone, he was standing directly in front of me, glaring down at me.

"Stand up," he muttered. I stood up slowly. "Now kiss me. And like you _mean _it."

Reluctantly, I leaned forward and pressed my lips gently against his. Unlike before, when they tasted so foreign, his lips now tasted quite familiar, which disgusted me – it meant that I had been kissing him enough to recognize it. The only person I should be kissing that much was Regulus.

I tried to keep my body as far away from him as possible, but Riddle wrapped his arms around my lower back and pulled me against him until our bodies were pressed tightly against one another, closer than I wanted to be.

I really don't know how it happened, but I suddenly found my back forced up against the wall. Riddle had, somehow without me noticing, held my wrists together with one hand and spun me to where he could slam me up against it none to gently – it was violent enough to cause my head to bang painfully against the wall.

"Ouch," I muttered before his lips could meet mine again. I could see him smile slightly before kissing me forcefully again. _What a creep…Who gets pleasure out of other people's pain? _I thought, not only because it was true, but so that maybe I could keep my mind off of the fact that I felt horrible because I felt like I was cheating on Regulus.

Riddle let go of my hands and placed his on either side of my head, leaning even closer to me. I had nowhere to put my hands and arms, so I had to rest them between my breast and his chest. As a bonus, it kept me at least a little further away from him. I finally closed my eyes as an impulse, trying desperately, yet again, to pretend it was Regulus I was kissing. Even when I wasn't looking, though, I could tell that it wasn't.

His tongue slipped out of his lips and pressed against my lips, as if asking for permission to enter, but I kept them firmly shut. Irritated with my refusal, Riddle forced his tongue into my mouth and started stroking my upper mouth with it, sending shivers down my spine.

For a minute, I considered biting his tongue, but I thought that it would be a bad idea and possibly blow my cover. But then I realized that he never actually _forbade_ it, and it really was something I would do, so I brought my teeth down hard – not as hard as I could have, but still hard – onto his tongue.

I could taste the blood before he could even realize what had happened. But as soon as he had, he pulled back, cursing.

"Fuck!" he screamed. "You – little – _whore_!"

"Actually, I wouldn't call myself a whore," I said. "I only sleep with my fiancé." Riddle glared at me angrily, pinching his tongue.

"Well, maybe we'll have to change that tonight, then." I felt myself shudder and grow cold. It was terrified of that happening. It was several moments before Riddle said something else. "Fuck you, you little bitch."_ Taken to verbally abusing me now, too? Don't worry, I don't mind,_ I thought. _I can take it_.

"No, I'd rather you didn't," I replied rudely after I had cleared my mind of the fact that Riddle had basically just threatened to rape me. His eyes narrowed dangerously and anger flashed deep in his eyes before he suddenly grabbed my jaw roughly, forcing me to look him right in the eyes. I started to get worried, and knew it showed in my eyes because Riddle's eyes showed, if anything, glee.

"After my tongue stops bleeding and I resume kissing you," he muttered, "not only are you to kiss me back, you aren't to hurt me – or yourself, if you decide to go crazy – in _any_ way."

"Does that include kicking you in the crotch?" I asked sarcastically. He glared at me.

"Yes, that _does_ include kicking me in the balls," he answered.

"What balls?"

"You're not funny."

"_I_ think I'm hilarious."

Fed up with me, Riddle gave up on waiting for his tongue to stop bleeding and, after fixing it with a flick of his wand, pushed himself up against me again, pushing me against the wall with just as much, if not more, force than before, causing me to wince.

His hands rested on either side of my head, leaning toward me. He was pressed so close to me that I could feel his hard and obvious erection pushing against me. I could just imagine the dirty thoughts running through his mind. I could also see where this was headed in a few minutes, even without his previous comment, and I really didn't want that to happen.

It came as quite a surprise to me when Riddle leaned back slightly. I kept my eyes shut, but knew he had moved hardly any, if at all, because I could still feel him pressed against me. I jumped slightly as he grabbed my jaw again and forced my head up. I didn't understand at first, but then I felt his soft, cold lips against my neck. There was no way I was going to _enjoy _this.

I shivered slightly, both because it was so unexpected and, to be quite honest, it felt good. But I refused to let myself think that, because it was such a horrible thought.

I was silent as he continued to molest my neck, staring up at the ceiling helplessly. Finally, while I was sure he was leaving a hickey on the right side of my neck, I said quietly,

"Please." It was all I could get out for the moment, and Riddle, his lips still touching my neck so I could feel his breath, asked,

"What?"

"Please…" I muttered again as his tongue slipped out of his mouth and against my neck. I shuddered. "…Stop. Please."

Riddle didn't respond. Instead, he continued to kiss and lick my neck for several minutes before I felt his teeth sink into it. Not far enough to draw blood, but enough to warrant a gasp of shock from me. Riddle took it to be a sexual moan, though, and laughed lightly against my throat.

"But why would I do that?" he finally replied. "I'm just having so…much…_fun_." His lips returned to mine and his tongue slipped back into my mouth. After a minute of him moving his mouth against mine, he retreated slightly for breath.

Now I was actually getting worried. I didn't want to do this. I know I had told Regulus that I probably would do it to keep from blowing my cover, and I had honestly thought I would, but now that I was actually in this situation, I didn't want to. I wanted anything _but _this. My bottom lip started quivering slightly, and my voice shook as I spoke.

"Please…please, stop. I'm sorry!" I said, desperate. "_Please_!"

"Sorry isn't enough," Riddle whispered, his lips still brushing mine, his cold, dark, blood-shot eyes staring straight into mine. I know he could feel my bottom lip trembling now, and he smiled slightly at it.

"_Please…_" I whispered again. "Don't make me do this." Riddle ignored me, pressing his lips against mine yet again. But this time, he didn't stop there. His hands started lowering down my back until they rested on my hips and squeezed them so tight I was sure it was going to bruise.

After a moment, though, that wasn't enough either. He started playing with the top of my pants, a few fingers slinking beneath them and fiddling with my panties, but I couldn't take it and instinctively grabbed each of his hands with mine, trying to force them away. Riddle laughed.

"Not ready for the pants yet?" he asked lightly. "Okay, that's fine; we'll start with your top and work our way down." _No, that's worse_, I thought. But I didn't say anything, because his lips were preventing it.

I suppose he wanted to work his way up slowly, though, because I let out a slight gasp again as his hands suddenly came out of nowhere and squeezed my arse tightly. He laughed lightly, breathing into my mouth, before he slid his hand down my thigh to the back of my knee and hitched it up so it was wrapped around his waist. I dropped it back down, but he pulled it right back up, and this time I kept it there as he did the same to my other knee.

His hands slid down so he was holding me up, but I was still terrified that he was going to drop me, so I wrapped my arms around his neck to hold myself up, just in case. Riddle carried me over to the table, which he set me down on, still kissing me.

I half expected him to lay me back and then crawl on top of me, but he didn't. Instead, he slunk his cold hands up under my shirt and started rubbing my bare back right below my bra gently. My bottom lip continued to quiver, and my eyes started to fill with tears slowly.

It was when I heard a tiny "snap" and felt my bra slip down my shirt that the tears finally spilled over. He had unhooked it, and, since it was strapless, it had fallen right down. Riddle, smirking against my lips, slipped his hands down and pulled it out.

"You must have some money," he muttered once he saw it. "This is quite a fancy bra. And a push-up, huh? Trying to impress somebody?"

"Not you," I whispered, trying, and failing, to keep my voice steady as the tears continued to fall. Riddle looked up at me, throwing the bra to the floor, and said,

"Don't cry. It'll be well worth it, baby." I flinched slightly as he wiped the tears off of my face. But they were just replaced seconds later.

"You have no right to call me 'baby'," I snapped angrily. Riddle's lip twitched, annoyed, before he slammed his lips against mine again and reached his hands up my shirt, this time in the front.

I couldn't take it. No matter what kind of consequences I could be causing, I couldn't do this. I set my hands up against his chest and shoved him away just before his hands reached my breasts.

He stumbled backwards slightly, shocked, and stared at me blankly for a few minutes. But when he opened his mouth to say something, my ears seemed to stop working. The room started to spin, and I felt nauseous.

_Not again_, I thought, as pain shot through my head. I had to shut my eyes to block out the spinning room, but it didn't help. I felt on the verge of retching.

"Well?" I heard Riddle say, much closer than it seemed he had been before. I had no idea what he had asked, but I shook my head slowly.

"I…I think I'm going to throw up," I muttered.

"What?" Riddle asked, confused. I took several deep breaths, trying to keep from throwing up or passing out.

"It's happening again," I said slowly. "The dizziness…the…the…_everything_."

"What are you talking about?" I could feel his breath on my face, which made me feel even worse.

"The last time…when it was from the Dark Magic…'member? I told…told you earlier…If I don't go see Madam Pomfrey, it…it could kill me."

"Don't lie," Riddle muttered dangerously.

"I…I'm not." I opened my eyes and found him inches from me staring right into my face. "Do I look like I'm lying?"

"Well…you suddenly got all pale, and looked as though you were going to throw up…so I'd say no," he said. He leaned back. "Fine. Go. But believe me, you'll be coming back here to finish this by the end of the week."

I grabbed my bra and threw it on quickly on the way out. Stumbling down the hallway wasn't fun, especially since I felt like I could just pass out and die at any second, and when I can't see where I'm going at all. I had to keep my hands on the wall and try to remember how to get out.

I turned the corner and ran straight into somebody coming toward me. I wouldn't have thought that I hit them hard enough to knock me down, but I was already unsteady, so I was knocked right off of my feet.

I had no idea who I had run into. I just hoped to Merlin that it wasn't Bellatrix.

"Nicki? What are you doing here?"

"Harry?" I asked, skeptical that my luck could be that good.

"Nick, what's wrong? You look horrible."

"I…I…I _feel _horrible too," I muttered. I felt him help me stand up, but my vision was so blurred that I had no idea where he was. "I need…to get…to Madam…Madam Pomfrey. Please…can you do that?"

My ears seemed to shut off again, and my vision went black. However, I was still aware of Harry picking me up and carrying me out of the Manor, I was aware of him Apparating me to Hogsmeade, and I was aware of him lying me gently on a soft bed in the Hospital Wing, where I finally lost my consciousness once more.

**A/N: ****Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to givetherabbitthefreakintrix, Blizzen, and sheeiilaa for the reviews!**

Chapter 23

"Nice to see those beautiful eyes again, Miss Potter."

"What happened to me _this_ time?" I muttered, sitting up slowly. "I don't think I was around Dark Magic long enough to take me out like that." Before Madam Pomfrey could even open her mouth, though, the doors flung open and Harry marched in.

"What the _hell _were you doing at Malfoy Manor?"

"I'll leave you two some time alone," Madam Pomfrey said before she quickly departed.

"Well?" he added after I didn't answer. I sighed and paused for a moment, refusing to look at him.

"Don't take this too bad, alright?"

"Take _what _too bad?" Harry asked, still angry but now sounding apprehensive. I paused again – so long that Harry had to repeat his question.

"Obviously you know how Draco was supposed to give me that potion, but that he didn't and just pretended to, and what, exactly, it does." Harry nodded slowly. "Well, on Tuesday, Riddle had a talk with Draco about how he was already getting tired of having to use him to 'control' me. So, he told Draco to make me obey him constantly as well and, since then, I've been 'forced' to go have one-on-ones with him twice so far."

Harry was silent. I finally looked up from my lap at him and saw his face a mixture of emotions, from anger, to disappointment, to terror, to confusion.

"You mean…just you and him? _Alone_?" I nodded slowly. At first, he seemed to settle on being angry, but then he looked horrified and he started shaking his head slowly. "No…_no!_ Nick, he's going to _kill _you!"

"No, he's not."

"How can you be sure?"

"I just…I just _am_. Please believe me. Trust me, Harry, I know what I'm doing." Harry sighed and sat in the chair next to me, taking my hands in his and squeezing them gently. 

"I do, I swear," he said quietly. "I'd trust you with my life, Nick. But…it's _him _I don't trust. How can you be sure he won't just get pissed off one day and kill you out of fury?"

"I –"

"Nicki, listen, he'll just kill you, we both know he will."

"But –"

"You can't be sure that he won't –"

"_Yes_, I can," I contradicted.

"How?"

"Because…because Riddle's in love with me," I blurted. I didn't think it was a good idea for him to know that – I didn't think it was a good idea for him to even know that I had to obey Riddle and see him in one-on-one meetings, but now he knew this and…I was horrified about how he would take it.

Harry was silent. I was terrified to look at him. It's funny that I'm not even afraid of Riddle, but I'm afraid of my own brother.

"No," Harry said quietly, defiantly. "No…he can't. He doesn't." I sighed, annoyed, trying desperately to evade the topic.

"Why do people think it's so impossible for somebody to be in love with me?"

"It's not that it's impossible for anybody to be in love with you, it's just impossible for _him _to be. You know as well as I – no, actually you know _better _than I – how impossible it is for him to love! And, even if he does, he'll probably murder you or something and say that he did it because he loves you. It's too dangerous!"

"I know how dangerous it is," I replied quietly. "But the risks are worth it!"

"Mhmm, and what have you learned so far that I don't know?" I didn't reply. How could I? He was right; I didn't know _anything _about their plans. All I knew was…shit, all I knew was that he loved me. Although I suppose I _could _use that to my advantage.

"Me?" Harry continued. "I know a lot of things. Like –"

"Okay, I get it, so far I haven't done much, but I will, I swear!" I exclaimed. "Please, Harry, I've already had Regulus down my throat about this, don't give me that talk _again_."

"Fine," Harry replied, standing up so quickly that the chair squealed. "I'll just talk to _Dumbledore _about it." He turned to leave, but I grabbed his wrist before he could get far.

"Harry, _please_ –"

"Nothing you say or do will change my mind," he said. "I care about you, Nicki, I love you so much. I don't want to see you hurt." He yanked his wrist out of my hand.

"Harry –!"

"Mr. Potter, if you're going to rile up my patients I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Madam Pomfrey said as she hurried out of her office.

"That's fine," Harry snapped, still staring at me furiously. "I was just leaving." I sighed, admitting defeat, as he hurried from the Hospital Wing, slamming the door behind him. I huffed, sat back and crossed my arms.

"Is everything alright, Miss Potter?" Madam Pomfrey asked, staring after Harry.

"Fine. Can you tell me what happened to me now?"

"I'm not exactly sure," she replied. "I can't quite figure it out. It seems the Dark Magic came back into your system somehow. Were you around any that you know of?"

"I…I don't think so…" I said, thinking. "I mean…nothing that could make me pass out that fast…maybe…" Madam Pomfrey sighed a long sigh and sat down on the bed.

"Look, Miss Potter, you may not think it, but I'm in the Order too," she said quietly after a moment. "I never come to meetings because I'm always here, but I'm still in it. I know a lot more than I should, and I know your position. Were you at Malfoy Manor recently?" 

I stared at her for a long moment before I spilled it out to her, everything that I had been through that night – or, rather, that _morning_. She listened while I stumbled over my words to get it out, and, finally, when I was finished, she said quietly,

"It was probably that curse. I don't know, exactly, what it was, but I've heard of it before. It used to be really popular, but now hardly anybody knows of it. It's _really _Dark Magic – it doesn't take much to kill a person. But still, it doesn't seem as if you've had enough…"

"Then what is it?" I asked quietly, almost dreading the answer.

"I'm going to run a few more tests, if that's alright." I nodded slowly. "Alright, lay back, and I'm going to put a Sleeping Charm on you for a while, alright?" I nodded again as I laid back and stared up at the ceiling.

I didn't hear her say anything, but I suddenly felt drowsy, even though I had been wide-awake just seconds before. It lasted for a few seconds before everything went black….

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Well…I figured out what has been causing you to react so strongly to it."

"What's that?" I was terrified to know the answer. Not only was I afraid that it would be something so horrible I wouldn't be able to go back to Malfoy Manor ever, but I was afraid because I had an idea what it could be, and only hoped to Merlin that I was wrong.

"The Dark Magic never fully left your system. I finally got it all out now, though. There shouldn't have been enough in you to cause you to react that way, though."

"Then…then why did I?"

I thought I already knew the answer, and, by Madam Pomfrey's next words, it was obvious that I did.

"…You sound as though you already know."

_Shit_.

I buried my face in my hands and nodded slowly. _It can't be true…it can't be… _I thought desperately. But another side of me was saying, _but it is_.

_I hate this._

"Yeah…yeah, I know," I replied quietly after a minute. "I've been thinking that might be why. But…I didn't _want_ it to. That's why I never brought it up."

"Does anybody know, besides you and me?" I shook my head slowly.

"No. I'm terrified, that's why I never told anybody. I didn't want it to be true…"

"There's still the chance that it could be wrong," she said after a moment. I looked up at her hopefully. She explained quickly. "It's quite early to tell for sure. Sometimes, after a traumatic incident like your recent near-death one, your body just…reacts strangely and things like this happen."

"How can I know for sure?" I asked.

"I'd recommend checking the Muggle way in a couple hours, days even." I knew what that meant, but didn't reply. We were both silent for a long moment. Finally, Madam Pomfrey set her hand on my shoulder gently, and I looked up from my.

"You need to tell somebody. I don't care who – Regulus, Lily, James, Harry. Somebody. You need someone to help you through this, whether it's true or not, at least until you're ready to tell everybody else." I nodded slowly.

"Yeah…I know…"

"You can leave, if you want," she said. "You're probably anxious to see your family. It _is_ eight."

"That's not too bad," I replied. "Only eight hours since I left. I'm sure they're all fine." She stopped, as she had started for her office, and turned back to face me.

"Hun, it's eight in the evening. You've been gone for 20 hours."

Shit. 

I hurried back to Grimmauld Place as fast as I could and found almost the entire group in the dining room in the basement. They stopped and stared at me as I entered, looking around for Regulus. I needed to speak to him.

"Nicki! Where have you been?" somebody called, but I was too busy to figure out who.

"I…where's Regulus?" I asked, not answering their question. He wasn't in the room.

"Well, he was under the impression that you had either been murdered or kidnapped by Voldemort," another voice said. "He wanted to go and kill him. So we had to lock him in his room." Fabian was right in front of me. He had been the one speaking. "Might as well go find him now, let him know you're okay."

I sighed slowly, ignoring the questions nearly everybody was shouting at me, and hurried up the stairs to the top landing and then over to the door. I waved my wand and unlocked the door before turning the knob and pushing it open slowly.

When I didn't hear or see anything, I quietly closed the door behind me and called out,

"Regulus?" There was no answer. "Regulus, it's me." Still no answer. "Are you there?" I entered the room fully and, to my surprise, didn't see him anywhere. "Hello?"

_Maybe he's in the bathroom or something_, I thought, confused, as I rushed over to the bathroom door and flung it open.

Nothing.

I turned back to the bedroom, about to panic, and that's when I noticed it.

Actually I noticed two things. The first was the window above the bed. It was pushed wide open, and a thick tree branch swayed in the wind right outside it. The second was a piece of rolled up parchment lying on the desk. I could see green ink on it, and I knew instantly that it wasn't from anybody in the Order or any Aurors.

Slowly, I picked up the parchment and rolled it open, scared out of my mind about what could be on it. It was unfamiliar handwriting, but I could tell it had been rushed.

_Looking for your fiancé? If you want her back – alive, that is – you'll come meet me at the front gates. I'm sure you know where._

"No…" I said slowly, shaking my head and throwing it down. "No…Regulus!" I exclaimed, trying to convince myself that he hadn't left, that he hadn't taken the bait. "_Regulus!_" I ran back into the hallway, checked Sirius' room, and then the bathroom again. Finally, I leaned out the open window and looked down for him.

I was horrified. He had obviously gone, escaping through the window. And, if Riddle had his way, Regulus was probably dead by now. Tears were threatening to overpower me, but I held them back.

_No,_ I thought. _No crying. You're going to find him. Don't tell anybody. Just go, find him, and get out, before Riddle can do too much to him._

I didn't even leave a note in case somebody came up to look for me. I climbed onto the windowsill immediately and grabbed the thick tree branch right outside before climbing onto it. I didn't even climb down the tree before I gripped my wand tightly and Apperated to the gates of Malfoy Manor.

It was eerily silent as I nearly ran up to the front doors and threw them open to reveal the empty Entrance Hall. Not sure exactly where to go, I found myself heading down toward the Drawing Room Riddle and I usually met in, where I threw the door open to find Riddle sitting at the table as though waiting for me.

"Hello Nicole," he said once I had slammed the door behind me. "What are you doing–?"

"Where the _fuck _is he?" I exclaimed, cutting him off, as I walked quickly up to the table.

"Who, my dear?"

"You know very well who," I snarled, setting my hands on the table and leaning toward him. "Regulus. Where is he? I saw your fucking note. _Leave – him – alone_." Riddle reached up and ran the back of his hand across my cheek gently. I didn't have the time to push him away.

"Maybe I'll give your little fiancé back to you…on one condition."

"What's that?" I asked, feeling as though I already knew the answer.

"If you'll do a little something for me."

"I am _not _having sex with you," I snapped. "I'll find him myself if I have to." I turned to leave, but Riddle called with a steady voice,

"Stop right there or I'll kill him now." I stopped and turned back to him, terrified.

"You can't," I said quietly and shakily. "You're right here, and he's not." Riddle merely shrugged and said,

"Get back over here and sit down." I had to; I would be putting Regulus' life in danger if I didn't, and I couldn't do that. Never – especially not now. To my surprise the chains didn't jump up around my wrists. "Now just rest, alright?" I felt my eyes slowly filling with tears before I blinked them back and nodded.

That's when I felt it. I was suddenly becoming drowsy. Despite the fact I was wide awake seconds ago. I had felt the same exact thing just an hour or two ago.

"No!" I exclaimed quietly as my eyes started drooping. "Stop, I know what you're doing! It's a…a…a Sleeping…Sleeping Charm…"

And everything went black.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I felt myself slowly coming to. For some reason, I couldn't open my eyes. It took me a long time to realize just what was going on, but, once I did, I found myself panicking.

I felt as though I was wearing little clothing – if any. I could tell I was lying on a bed, with my hands tied to the headboard about half a meter apart. Something was tied over my mouth so I couldn't talk…or maybe so I couldn't scream.

My eyes flashed open suddenly. I didn't recognize the room I was in, and I didn't see Riddle anywhere. I realized that I wasn't completely stripped; I still had on my bra and panties. I started to struggle with the cords keeping my hands tied up, tugging on them, desperately trying to break them. For some reason, wandless magic didn't even pop into my head.

"They're not going to break."

I didn't expect it. Riddle, who seemed to be nowhere, had suddenly spoken up. I looked over and this time, I saw him. I don't know where he had been hiding, but now he was standing right next to the bed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I exclaimed, continuing the struggle with the constraints. Riddle didn't answer as he climbed onto the bed and set one leg on either side of my hips, resting his entire weight on me.

I didn't know what to say as he leaned forward and set his lips against mine, setting his hands on either side of my head to hold himself up and moving his legs and hips until he was comfortable.

I couldn't do anything to fight him. I tried to buck him off, but he moaned and I knew that, if anything, he liked it. His lips slipped down to my neck, which he started to lick and kiss and bite.

"Please…" I said, panting. "Please, stop…Riddle…Tom…_please_…"

He kept working his way down my neck to my upper chest and then right between my breasts. My bottom lip was quivering slightly as his hands fingered my panties, as though ready to rip them off at any second.

I didn't even notice him remove his shirt or pants, but somehow he was suddenly clad in only his boxers as he grinded up against me, his erection digging into me. His lips stayed off of mine, though, and were mostly on my neck and chest. His hands groped my breasts, massaging them for several minutes.

"Riddle…please, stop…"

"I must say," Riddle muttered, his lips still against my neck, "you are, possibly, the most beautiful and sexy woman _ever_."

His cold hands trailed from my breasts down my sides gently and held my hips for a minute, so tightly I knew I would have bruises the next day, before traveling to my crotch. He didn't go beneath the panties, but he still fondled with me for several minutes before I yelled,

"_Stop!_"

Riddle, shocked by my sudden outburst, paused, but only for a second, to ask,

"And why would I do that?"

It slipped out. I didn't want to tell him – _especially_ not before Regulus knew – but I couldn't stop it. I don't even know why I thought it would get him to stop, but, for some reason, I thought it would. And, so, I exclaimed,

"Because what kind of sick bastard wants to have sex with a pregnant woman?"

**A/N: ****Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to givetherabbitthefreakintrix, PenNameless1994, Blizzen, sheeiilaa, and littlehampir13 for the reviews!**

Chapter 24

"_Because what kind of sick bastard wants to have sex with a pregnant woman?"_

Riddle was silent. I could still feel his breath on my neck, where his lips lingered, inches from it. I was terrified, to say the least. I knew he was bound to freak out and not only kill the baby, but Regulus as well. If he wasn't already dead. Which he wasn't. I was determined that he wasn't.

I didn't know what to do except half-sit, half-lay while staring up at the ceiling helplessly, hoping for Riddle to just get it over with and kill the baby. Or me. Or do whatever the hell he had planned. The suspense was, honestly, the worst part.

Maybe he knew that. Maybe that's why he was being so silent.

Finally, after _years_, Riddle leaned back so he was straddling and sitting on my hips It wasn't very comfortable, but I didn't care. I was still terrified.

"But…we never…we never had –"

"You're so fucking stupid!" I exclaimed. "I'm _engaged!_ What makes you think that, if I get pregnant, it has to be _yours_?" I knew screaming at him wouldn't do much for my situation, but I had already accepted that no matter what I did, I couldn't be in any worse of a predicament than I already was.

Riddle leaned forward and slapped me across the face. I gasped and closed my eyes tightly to hold back the tears.

It didn't work. They soon overflowed anyways.

What was with all the crying? I guess it was just hormones.

Riddle was silent again after the slap. Not for quite as long, though; instead of years, it was months. Or maybe just weeks. I didn't even know anymore. But before too long, he climbed off and sat on the edge of the bed, his elbows resting on his knees, staring at the floor. At the same time, the chords keeping my hands tied up disappeared.

"Get out. Now."

I stood up quickly and threw my clothes and shoes, which were in a pile on the floor, on quickly. I felt my wand in my pocket and headed for the door, almost sprinting.

"Don't tell anybody what happened here," Riddle spoke again before I could reach the door. "And don't even _think _about going to find that retched husband of yours."

_As if_, I thought as I scrambled out of the room and down the hall. There was absolutely no way I was leaving Regulus there. I threw a Disillusionment Charm on as I headed down the hallways and staircases toward the dungeons, where I knew Regulus would be, whether he was dead or alive.

I basically ran down the dungeons hallway, searching in each cell for him as I went – most of which were empty. I kept muttering things like, "Fuck," and "He's such a dick" and "God dammit," and, when I got close to the end, I let out my anger by yelling, "_Fucking asshole!_"

It was then that I saw him, in the very last cell.

He was lying on his side, with his back turned to me. I could already tell he had taken a beating; his shirt was practically shredded, holding on by what seemed like a thread. One of his pant legs had been ripped off completely at the knee, and blood was splattered in several places on his showing skin.

I felt my breath caught at the sight. Anybody passing would've thought he was dead. I refused to believe it. He couldn't be…he just couldn't be.

But as I slipped into the cell, I found myself begging him mentally. _Please…please…don't let him be dead…please, Regulus, be alive…be okay…for me…for the baby…_

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

**(A/N: This is Regulus' POV now for a bit ^_^)**

There was no way in _hell _I was leaving her there. He had probably already fucking murdered her and I was probably walking to my death forever unable to help her. But there was still that chance she was alive, and I wasn't going to risk it.

As I climbed out the window, a part of me thought that maybe he was lying. Maybe she _wasn't _there. But I couldn't take the chance, because what if she _was _there?

Why had the entire Order been stupid enough to make it nearly impossible for me to get out of the door, but didn't even bother with the windows? Sometimes I wonder how they manage to even come close to winning these wars.

I didn't even climb down the tree before I Disapperated – right to the gates to Malfoy Manor.

There he was. I could see him through the dense, dark trees. Even had I not expected him and known exactly what to expect, I would recognize him anywhere. He was tall, even more so than me, black-haired with dark, bloodshot eyes. He had a cruel smirk playing at his lips when he saw me.

"Mr. Black," he said calmly. "Nice to see you –"

"Where is she?" I snarled, wanting to take out my wand and curse him but terrified that if I tried he would hurt her.

"Who?" he asked innocently.

"You know damn well who," I snapped. "Nicole. You got your wish; I'm right here. Now let – her – go."

"No, no, not yet," he said maliciously, shaking his head. He started to say more, but I was so pissed that I couldn't hold it back; I whipped my wand out and pointed it at him so it was pushing, most likely uncomfortably, into his neck.

"Let. Her. Go." Riddle laughed.

"You better put your wand down, or I'll never let her go. I can make her hurt from here if you don't listen, you know."

"How? You're right here –"

"I have more than one hundred Death Eaters in the Manor as we speak," he said, still laughing. "How do you know I don't have some way to communicate with them right now? And if you think I don't, but I do, how would you feel if you caused the death of dear Nicole?"

I sighed – he was right. Even if he _didn't _have a way, I couldn't risk it. I slowly lowered my wand and stowed it back in my pocket.

"What do you want from me?" I asked after a moment.

"Well obviously I want you dead." I stared at him blankly. _Duh…_I thought. Riddle explained quickly. "With you out of the way, I have a more of a…_chance_ with your lovely fiancé. As I'm sure you well know, I quite…_fancy _her."

"If you kill me," I growled, "you'll have _less _of a chance with her than you already do. And the chance of you getting her is already…_below_ zero." Riddle shrugged but didn't say anything more. Instead he threw the gates open and told me to follow him in.

As we walked into the Manor, I couldn't stop seeing it. Seeing him with her. Holding her close to him, kissing her, running his hands all over her body. Loving her. And I could see her holding him, and kissing him back and that's what hurt the most.

But I could also see her fighting him, struggling to keep him away from her, but he kept pushing. Actually, _this _might have hurt the most, because at least I could tell that, if she kissed him back, she wasn't hurting. If she was fighting him, I knew she wasn't happy.

I don't know where we went once we had entered the building. Down some hallways, down some stairs, turned right, left, up another staircase…it went on and on. Finally, Riddle opened the door to a room and led me inside, slamming the door shut behind me.

Aside from a long table down the middle with a single chair at it, the room was empty. Unsure what to do, I stood there. I wanted to kill him, to curse him to, as I've heard said, "infinity and beyond." But I knew if I did, there was almost no chance I would see Nicki again…at least, see her _alive _again.

"I shouldn't be telling you this," Riddle muttered. I looked up at him.

"Telling me what?" I inquired. He looked up at me too.

"I suppose I can tell you. Not like you'll ever be able to tell anybody now…" Confused, I remained silent. "Your little fiancé has been given a potion by somebody you trust. A Mr. Malfoy, I believe. She has to obey everything he says – it's like the Imperious, only she doesn't have a choice. And she has to obey _me _too."

I shivered. Even though I knew this wasn't true, the thought of it terrified me. Riddle smiled evilly at me.

"Her own brother is on our side, too," he continued. "I bet you never expected that, did you?" I didn't respond. After a minute, Riddle said, "Sit," motioning to the chair.

"I'd rather not," I muttered, shaking my head.

As soon as I had spoken, I heard it – a scream. It sounded as though it were coming from directly above us. At first I couldn't tell who it was, but then I recognized it – Nicki.

"No!" I screamed, my eyes widening. "Stop – I'll sit in the stupid chair, just stop!"

As soon as I finished, it stopped. I was panting, staring up at the ceiling hopelessly. I couldn't help her…if I tried, I knew I would be overpowered by Riddle and the Death Eaters, and that would be worse for her if that happened.

"Well?" Riddle asked. "Are you going to sit or not?"

I slowly sat in the chair. As soon as I had, chains sprang out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around my wrists, holding them to the arms of the chair. I tried to tug them free, but I was too late – I was stuck.

"Want to know what they're doing to her up there?" Riddle asked, smirking at me. I didn't even have time to answer before I felt it.

It seemed to start in my veins. It was even worse than the Cruciatus. It felt like my insides were on fire. I had never been in so much pain. It was so much pain I couldn't even scream or move for several minutes, but when I finally could, I couldn't hear my screams because my ears were popping. I was arching my back off of the chair and my wrists were trying to get free involuntarily.

It stopped after several minutes. Riddle was laughing maliciously.

"If you don't behave, not only will _you _get more of that – _she _will too. And just a second too long can fatally harm someone." 

I was panting so much I couldn't talk for several minutes, but Riddle seemed to be waiting for me to respond, so when I finally could, I stuttered,

"Don't…don't h-hurt her…I-I'll do what…whatever you say. Just…leave her alone…p-please." Riddle continued to smile while he nodded.

"If you behave, I won't."

"What do you want?" I finally asked through gritted teeth. I was still pissed, but now I was terrified – I would do anything for him to leave Nicki alone, to let her go, but who's to say that he won't just hurt her anyways?

"Break up with her," he ordered. I felt my eyes widen as I looked up at him.

"What?"

"You know I want her…I want her more than _anything_…break up with her, or I'll kill her."

"If you want her more than anything, why would you kill her?" I snapped.

I instantly regretted it. I heard a sharp scream from above us just as I felt what felt like a whip smacked my back through the chair. I felt my shirt rip and blood pour down my back.

"Whatever we do to you, we do to her," Riddle explained. I was leaning forward so my back wasn't pressing up against the back of the chair, panting and staring at my feet.

"I just…I don't understand…" It happened again – another scream, another whip. This time, I was silent after it had happened – if it had only been me, I wouldn't have been silent and just born it, but it wasn't just me, it was her too.

"Break up with her, and tell her to come to me –"

"How could I convince her to come to you?"

Three more screams, three more whips – two on my front, one on the back. I clenched my teeth together to keep from screaming.

"I don't know, that's your problem, just tell her to."

"No!"

I couldn't stop it. I hate to say it, but I'd rather she was dead than with him. He'd probably torture her daily, and I didn't want her to have to deal with that. Maybe it's horrible of me to think that, but it's just what I thought.

I felt my right ankle snap, and a loud gasp of pain from above us. My left wrist snapped, too, and then there were two more whips; one to the front, one to the back.

I felt myself slowly fading in and out of consciousness. Somehow, I had started bleeding at my temple on the right side. I don't remember being hit or anything there. I do remember having the curse that was worse than the Cruciatus put on me again, but I didn't have enough strength to scream – it seemed Nicki did, though, because the last thing I remembered was hearing her scream, "Regulus!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I remember being sore. I didn't know where I was at first, but then I heard the cell door close and remembered what had happened. I turned my head just enough to see some Death Eater lock the door to the cell before turning and leaving down the hall.

All I could think about was Nicki. Was she in the same position as me? She definitely wasn't in the cell – even though I could only move my head and my eyes were half shut, I could tell I was alone.

Everything went black again…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I couldn't see…but I could hear. I knew I was still in the cold cell of Malfoy Manor. I had no idea how long I had been there – hours, days, months. Your guess is as good as mine.

The first thing I heard was hurried footsteps. They were light – it had to either be a child or a girl. Then I heard what seemed to be a familiar voice yell, "Fucking asshole!" I heard the cellar door slide open quietly soon afterward but didn't have the strength to turn my head to see who it was.

There was silence for several moments after the door slammed shut loudly, echoing down the long hallways. I laid there, unable to move at all, waiting, until the person finally started walking slowly forward. I could tell it had to be a girl, because the shoes sounded like heels against the stone ground. They kept walking until they were walking around me, and their lower legs and feet came into view.

I knew who it was immediately by the shoes; simple, black, ankle boots with heels.

Nicki's favorite pair of shoes to wear out.

I didn't understand what was going on. If she had really been tortured like I had, how was she walking, let alone in heels? There was no way…

She knelt down beside me – I had a clear shot up her skirt – and slowly reached a small, cold, shaking hand down my shirt, probably to search for a heartbeat, all the while muttering,

"C'mon, Regulus, don't be dead…please don't be dead…please…"

Obviously, she couldn't see my eyes half open, staring up her horrified eyes. I was surprised to find that, despite the fact that she _supposedly _had been tortured along with me, her face was only slightly red, she seemed to have a handprint across her face, and there was something that appeared to be a hickey or burn on her neck.

Her hand started shaking even more violently. I figured she couldn't feel my heartbeat, just as she started to get frantic.

"Nicki…"

I don't know how I had gotten it out. I guess I just knew that she would panic if I didn't somehow let her know I wasn't dead.

I heard her breath catch as her eyes met mine as I opened my eyes just a little bit further.

"Reg…" she muttered, running her free hand through my hair gently, looking on the verge of tears…or maybe as though she had been crying. "Regulus, I'm _so _sorry…"

_Why are you apologizing? _I thought. I wanted to ask her, but I couldn't get it out – I couldn't even open my mouth.

"It's going to be okay," she whispered. "I promise…I'll get you out of here…trust me, okay?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

When I finally woke up completely, I found myself in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts. Sirius and Remus were sitting next to me. Remus was grading papers, Sirius was reading a book – neither realized that I was awake until I sat up slowly.

"Hey Regulus," Sirius said, setting his book to the side and leaning onto his elbows. "Feeling better?"

"Loads," I grumbled, sitting up slowly. "Where's Nicole?" I could see Remus roll his eyes – he was probably thinking that of course the first thing I would do would be to ask about her.

"Harry took her back to Grimmauld Place," Remus said, putting the papers aside with Sirius' book. "She didn't want to leave – it took Harry and Madam Pomfrey an hour trying to convince her to."

"They had finally convinced her to go back. She really needed to sleep and eat something – she'd been here for over twelve hours."

"How long have I been here?" I grumbled, rubbing my aching forehead.

"About thirty hours."

"It's eight in the morning, Tuesday, right now," Remus added. I groaned.

"Can I leave? I need to see Nicki…"

"You should probably ask Madam Pomfrey," Sirius pointed out. He paused. "But she's sleeping, and since when have I ever done what you _should _do?" I smiled slightly. "Go ahead." Remus seemed to protest but didn't say anything as I slipped out of the bed and hurried out so I could go to Grimmauld Place.

I was in such a hurry that I didn't even remember how I got to Grimmauld Place. All I know is that next thing I knew I was standing in the front hallway of Grimmauld Place. The hallway was empty, but I heard voices drifting up from the dinning room in the basement and started for it.

"Regulus, you're back!"

Before I could even see who was in the room, I found Scarlet throwing her arms around me. I hugged her back and looked over her shoulder to see who was in the room. It was pretty much everyone.

Except Nicki.

"Where's Nicki?" I asked, pulling back from Scarlet and searching the room, yet again, for her. Scarlet shrugged.

"Probably in your room. That's where she said she was going yesterday when she came back."

I didn't even say anything to anybody else before I spun around and hurried up the stairs to our bedroom, praying to Merlin that she was actually there and hadn't snuck out or something. Not that I'd put it past her…

She wasn't there.

"Shit, Nicki, why must you be so Goddamn irritable!" I exclaimed, pissed, annoyed, and slightly worried. I checked the bathroom and even Sirius and Scarlet's room before I ran down the stairs, checking each and every bedroom and bathroom as I checked.

And then there she was. In the bathroom on the first floor. She was sitting on the ground with her back against the wall across from the toilet. Either she was asleep or just had her eyes closed. She was wearing the same thing she had been wearing when I had seen her just before she had somehow managed to get us out of the Manor – a flowery skirt, a black top, and her favorite black boots.

"Nicki?" I asked quietly as I pulled the door shut behind me. She didn't answer and merely laid there, her head back against the wall, her ankles crossed, and her hands on her stomach. I walked forward and sat down beside her, slowly wrapping my arm around her shoulders.

As soon as I had touched her, she jerked her head up and her eyes met mine. We stared at each other silently for a minute before she suddenly threw her arms around my neck, burying her face in my shoulder.

"Reg…I'm sorry…I'm _so _sorry…" she muttered into my neck.

"What are you sorry for?" I asked, holding her close to me. "It's not your fault…I shouldn't have listened…I should've known that he wouldn't really hurt you…"

Nick leaned back, looking me in the eyes.

"I wasn't even _there_," she said quietly. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"You weren't?" I asked, confused. She shook her head. "Then where were you? Who was that screaming?"

"It was probably just a recording or something," she said. "But I promise you it wasn't me. I was at Hogwarts, in the Hospital Wing."

"Why, are you okay?" I asked, concerned. She had been there so often lately, I knew they weren't just coincidences.

"I'm fine," she assured me, taking my hands in hers. "It was the same thing as last time…the Dark Magic." She paused. "But…that's not it."

"What…what do you mean?" I asked, slightly apprehensive. Nicki looked down at our interlocked hands and didn't reply for several minutes.

"I…I'm pregnant."

**A/N: ****Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to PenNameless1994, Blizzen, and sheeiilaa for the reviews!**

**This is back in Nicole's POV. We're headed back to what happened while Regulus was out for so long! Don't worry, we'll be back in Regulus' POV for his reaction to the news soon.**

Chapter 25

I couldn't help but stare at him for a long moment before I slammed the door loudly and started to walk slowly up to his still body, all the while I kept silently pleading, begging to Merlin for him to be alright, or at least to be alive.

It was near silent in the entire room except the sounds of my hells clicking against the ground, reverberating against the stone walls, and echoing down the hallway. I walked around his still body slowly so I could see the bottom half of his face – the top half was concealed by his falling, knotting hair.

I knelt down beside him, my heart beating obnoxiously loud and ringing through my ears, and reached my hand down his shirt to feel for a heartbeat.

"C'mon, Regulus, don't be dead…please don't be dead…please…" I muttered while I put my hands in several different positions, searching frantically for that steady beat.

I felt nothing.

My hand started to shake violently. _No…he can't be…he has to be alive…c'mon, Regulus, please…c'mon…_I thought, unable to stop my eyes from filling with tears.

"Nicki…"

I froze at the sound of his strained, hoarse voice, and caught my breath. My eyes found his half-open ones.

"Reg," I said, letting out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I pulled my hand out from beneath his shirt and used it to brush his hair out of his face, revealing a giant gash that was gushing blood on the side of his face. "Regulus, I'm _so_ sorry…" I muttered.

He stared at me, most likely unable to say anything, while I whispered, "It's going to be okay. I promise…I'll get you out of here…trust me, okay?"

His eyes slowly slid shut – he had lost consciousness, but I could tell by the rise and fall of his chest that he was alright.

_This is where it's going to get tough…_I thought. _How the hell am I supposed to get us both out of here?_

The first thing I did was threw a Disillusionment Charm over Regulus. But then I could only stand there and stare, unsure where to go from there, until I finally decided to levitate Regulus' limp body in the air close to the high ceilings, so nobody would run into him, and started toward the exit.

It seemed to be easy enough. Should've known my luck would run out.

I was close to the exit. Close enough to consider myself out of the Manor. But then I rounded a corner and found myself face-to-face with Riddle.

He was walking in my direction when he saw me standing there, horrified, and he stopped in his tracks.

"I thought I told to leave," he snarled, walking slowly towards me. I made sure to hover Regulus just a bit higher.

"I…I…"

"Without even _thinking _about finding your fiancé," he continued.

"I had to see him," I muttered quietly. "I just…I had to just make sure he was alive…"

Riddle's face was inches from mine. I was slightly terrified that he was going to torture me or something – instead, he set his lips against mine briefly.

"Leave. Now."

"Can…can I use the Floo Network? I…I have to go see Madam Pomfrey for a…a check-up and it's easier to get there by Flooing." Riddle stared at me before he turned around and started walking away. Taking it as a no, I sighed and started for the opposite direction when Riddle said,

"Are you coming or not?" I turned around and quickly followed him down several hallways before we entered an amazingly fancy and huge Drawing Room with a fireplace on the opposite side. Riddle grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the fireplace.

"You're lucky I love you," he muttered, grabbing a pot full of Floo Powder. "Or else I would just make you Apparate." Before he let me throw the Powder into the fireplace, he pulled me into yet another kiss – though this one was longer, more intimate.

Finally, he took a handful of Floo Powder and threw it into the fireplace, turning the flames green. I climbed in – all the while hovering Regulus in first – and closed my eyes while I said, "Hogwarts!"

I flew out of the fireplace into Dumbledore's office and found myself on the floor – well, I was on top of Regulus, so I quickly climbed off of him so I didn't hurt him even more and removed the Disillusionment Charm.

Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, staring at me oddly as I sat on my knees next to Regulus and felt tears start falling down my cheeks.

"Nicole? What's going on? What happened to Regulus?" Dumbledore had stood up and was now kneeling down next to me.

"I don't know," I said, almost sobbing. "He…he…Riddle sent him a letter. He – he lied to him. He said that he had me…that he was going to kill me…if…if he didn't come…so…so…so he went…and…I don't know what he did to him…"

Dumbledore pulled out his wand and levitated Regulus up before he stood up and started for the door. I followed numbly.

Next thing I knew, I was sitting on a white bed beside Regulus' still body. Madam Pomfrey had performed some of her magic, and I now knew _some _things that had happened to Regulus – his right ankle had been broken, as had his left wrist, he had had the same spell that I had said was worst than the Cruciatus Curse put on him for even longer than I had, and who knows what else.

All I could think about was that. Even when Severus and Draco showed up, I showed no interest in them. It wasn't until Harry came that I broke down.

"Nicki, he's okay," Harry said soothingly, rubbing my back in gentle, soothing circles while I cried gently into his chest. "Why are you so depressed?" When I was finally able to form coherent words without chocking on my sobs, I spit it out without even thinking,

"I-I'm so upset because…because I…I'm pregnant."

For I second, I reprimanded myself for being so tactless, then I was mad at myself for not telling Regulus first…well, _second_…but I didn't even care.

Harry's hand stopped against my back. I knew he was shocked – how could he have expected this? Even _I _hadn't expected it. It was so sudden.

"W…what?" Harry asked after several minutes of complete and utter silence. "Are you…are you sure?" I nodded slowly.

"Well…mostly. Madam Pomfrey told me that I should take a pregnancy test but I haven't had the time to go get one yet." Harry sighed and stared at his hands for a long moment before he moved his hand from my back to my hand and squeezed it gently.

"If you swear to stay here and not do something irrational, I'll go get you one right now."

"You know I wont leave while Regulus is here," I pointed out. "But you don't have to –"

"I want to, alright?" he said, obviously trying to convince me to let him go. I know he just wanted to know and, to be honest, I sorta did too. But I was more worried about Regulus at the moment…

Harry made to stand up, but I pulled him back down onto the bed.

"Don't leave me here alone, please," I begged. He hesitated before he agreed.

"Who else knows?"

"Besides you and Madam Pomfrey? Nobody," I replied. "Well…I accidentally let it slip to Riddle…" Harry groaned, shaking his head slowly at me in exasperation.

"Nicki…why, pray tell, would you _ever_ tell Riddle before Regulus?" Suddenly, he frowned. "Nick, please, oh _please, _tell me Regulus is the father?"

"Yes, yes, Regulus is the father," I said quickly, dismissing his theory that Riddle was the father. "There's no way Riddle could be it, I swear. I just…let it slip. That's the only reason he knows when Regulus doesn't." Harry, still looking a little skeptical, sighed again.

"Nick, please let me go get you a test. I'll be right back, I swear –"

But I didn't have time to reply before the Hospital doors flung open. Harry and I looked around to see Sirius come marching in, looking both angry and upset and flanked by Remus, James, and Lily.

"What the hell is going on?" Sirius exclaimed as soon as he saw Regulus lying on the bed. "Why the hell was I the last one to know that my own _brother _was inches from death?"

"Sirius –" Remus said quietly, trying to calm him down, sensing that Harry and I weren't in the mood, but it didn't work. He was soon standing over us, looking more upset than I could ever remember seeing him.

"Six hours after he gets here and I'm just now learning that he was almost _murdered_?"

"Sirius, I think –" Remus tried again, but Sirius kept ranting.

"After losing him once before, I'd _love _to know when I almost lose him again –!"

"Sirius!" James exclaimed, finally catching up to him and noticing how upset I already was. "Don't you think Nick's upset about this too? She was probably too upset to think about telling you! If _you _had found Regulus, what do you think _your _first reaction would be? Calling Nicki, or worrying about him?"

Sirius, still fuming, sat down on the same bed as Harry and I, but toward the foot of it, and stared at Regulus limp, scarred body.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, not looking away. "I'm just…worried."

"We know," Harry replied quietly. "We are too."

It was silent in the room. I stared at my feet, unsure what to say or do, until Harry suddenly stood up quickly and made for the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked, confused.

"To get you…" he hesitated. "…what I said I was going to."

"Huh?" James muttered, bewildered.

"She knows what I'm talking about," Harry said, nodding towards me. I started to shake my head hastily.

"Harry," I said. "Please…no…"

"What's going on?" Lily asked. Harry shrugged her off and, after one more glance back at me, walked right out of the room. I sighed, irritated and slightly worried. I didn't want to take a pregnancy test – I was almost one hundred percent sure it would say positive. There was almost no way it couldn't.

"Nicki, what's going on?" Lily asked again. I shook my head.

"It's nothing," I muttered.

"No, it's not," James said suddenly and sternly. I looked up at him, shocked. "Something's been going on lately, and I'll be damned if I don't find out what it is." I was silent, so he continued.

"You were in the Hospital Wing a couple days ago, but Regulus told me us it was just because of some Dark Magic when you were undercover but that you weren't harmed, so I let it go. And then you're there again, just yesterday morning, apparently. And when you come home, you and Regulus just disappear off the face of the earth! Something you aren't telling us about has been going on, and you're going to tell me what it is right now young lady."

I sighed. I should've known from the beginning that keeping this from James when he's my own father wasn't going to work. I know how fathers – and mothers – are; they all want to know exactly what's going in their children's lives, especially their daughters'.

"Do you _really _want to know?" I asked quietly. He nodded slowly. I could see Lily, Remus, and Sirius watching us both closely. "You're not going to like it."

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"Well…obviously you know about my…_situation _as spy under Draco's order," I said. They nodded, clearly confused. "Well…a few weeks ago, Riddle told him that he was annoyed with having to…_control_…me through him, so he, uh…he…"

"Did Riddle give you the potion too?" Lily asked, clearly moments away from freaking out. I shook my head quickly.

"Not quite," I said quietly. "He just told Draco to make me follow his instructions too." Lily sighed, obviously not too worried.

"Well that's not too bad," she said. "At least you can just, not obey him if you have to."

"Come on, Lil, this is Nicki we're talking about," James said, not convinced. "She'll do anything to not blow her cover."

"That doesn't explain everything," Remus pointed out. "There's got to be more to it than that." I nodded.

"There is," I muttered. "But I…I really don't want to go into it right now…"

Lily gave me a stern look that said silently, "_You're going to, whether you want to or not_." I sighed and bit my bottom lip for a second before I said quietly, looking at my hands,

"I've been having one-on-one meetings with Riddle for a week or so now…"

"Wait…you mean just you and Riddle?" Sirius asked, sounded confused, but also slightly pissed. Lily shushed him – she could tell there was something worse.

"Yeah, Sirius, that's right," I said, still extremely quiet. "Well…I think…well, I _know_…Riddle…he's in love with me…"

There was silence. I know for a fact that they did _not _expect that. I didn't dare look up to see their reactions. I don't know which was more terrifying; telling them, telling Regulus, or telling Harry. They were all pretty terrifying, more so than telling Riddle himself had been.

"Are…are you in love with him, too?" Remus asked after several minutes of silence, nobody knowing what else to say. I looked up at him finally, sure that my face was full of shock.

"No, no, definitely not! I could _never_!" I stared at him for a moment. "Do you really think so low of me, as to fall in love with my worst enemy? The man who had ruined so many lives, including my own?"

"Well…he fell in love with _you_, and you've ruined his life more than once," Sirius pointed out. I turned to glare at him.

"Well that's _Riddle_. If you really think about it, I would've expected him to stoop that low. But you expected that of me, too? I love _Regulus_, you know, your _brother_? The one who you came here to see?"

"Nicki, we would _never _think so low of you," Lily said, trying to remain calm and to keep me from getting upset. "It's just…we had to ask, just to be sure. You understand, don't you?" Let's be honest – yes, I understood, I just didn't want to admit it. But I had more pressing matters at hand, so I merely nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I suppose."

"But that doesn't explain everything," James said after a moment. "Why have you been in the Hospital Wing so often lately? "Riddle hasn't…hurt you at all, has he?" By the tone of his voice, I could tell he was expecting the worst, like rape or something.

"No, no, no, he hasn't hurt me at all, I swear," I lied quickly. I felt horrible for lying, but it was better that James didn't know how close Riddle had actually come to raping me. He, like Regulus or Harry if they knew, would lose it and try to kill him, which would be a horrible idea.

"Then what's going on?" Lily asked, getting annoyed with me avoiding the question. I looked at Regulus and said quietly,

"I…I don't think it's a good idea for you to know before Regulus knows."

"I don't give a damn if Regulus knows or not!" Lily yelled suddenly, causing each one of us in the room to jump from shock. "You've been acting so weird lately –!"

"You don't know a thing about what's been going on in my life lately!" I exclaimed, getting upset.

"And whose fault is that? Certainly not mine! I'm your _mother_; I deserve to know what's been going on –!"

The door banged open, once again cutting someone off, and Harry entered, looking down at something in his hand and saying loudly,

"Hey Nick, I've got the –" He looked up and stopped abruptly when he realized that they were still here, and I saw him ball his hand into a fist around whatever was in his hand. "Oh, you're still here."

"What do you have there?" Lily asked, taking a few steps toward him and pointing at his hand, which was still in a fist around what he was holding.

"N-nothing," Harry said quickly. But he gave away the fact that he was hiding something in his hand by putting his hands behind his back.

"Liar," Lily snarled. "What is it?" Harry stood very still with his mouth slightly open, unsure what to do. When he seemed to be on the verge of saying something, Lily snapped, "Don't you dare lie to me, I'm your mother!"

When Harry still didn't know what to say, Lily ran up to him and tried to grab it from his hand, but he yanked it up out of her reach.

"Harry, give it here!" she screeched, jumping up and trying to reach it. But Harry was too tall, or she was too short.

"I can't, it's not my information to give out!"

"Give it to her Harry."

I wasn't sure _why _I had said it. To be honest, I hadn't even wanted to say it, but it had slipped out.

Everybody turned to stare at me. Nobody had expected me to tell Harry to give it to her, especially Harry himself.

"Really?" he asked, sounding shocked. I nodded slowly, and he lowered his hand to give Lily the –

"Pregnancy test?" she muttered, confused. Remus and James turned to me automatically, their eyes wide, while Sirius and Lily paused for a minute, completely confused. Finally, they both turned to face me, their eyes widening like Remus' and James' previously had.

"Nicki, you're…you're _pregnant_?" James asked, sounding shocked and worried. I felt my eyes start to fill with tears again as I looked down at my hands and swallowed.

"I…I think so," I muttered, holding back the tears. "M-madam Pomfrey told me to…to take the test, just to be sure…"

It was silent in the room. Obviously, nobody seemed to have expected that…Well, maybe Harry did a little, but he didn't know what to say, so he was silent. But after a moment of complete silence, I heard soft footsteps coming toward me and the bed dipped slightly as Lily sat down beside me and held the test out to me.

"Hun, you need to take this," she said quietly. "You need to know whether you really are pregnant or not, Darling." I sighed and, after pausing for a moment to stare at it, I took the test from her.

There it was. About five minutes later. A little, pink plus sign, shining up at me. Madam Pomfrey checked me over – said I was about ten weeks along and that the baby was a healthy size at that age.

I don't even remember what happened after that point. Maybe I passed out, maybe I was just staring and completely forgot everything minutes later. All I know was that what seemed like a second later, Madam Pomfrey and Harry were the only ones left and were trying to convince me to go back to Grimmauld Place. All I could say was, "No."

I guess they figured out that I was too weak to physically fight them, though, because when Remus and Sirius showed up, Harry picked me up effortlessly and took me to Dumbledore's office, where we flooed to Grimmauld Place.

"I'm okay," I said to Harry once we arrived. "I can walk upstairs by myself."

"No, I'm going to come with you," he said. I shook my head and squirmed in his arms until he set me down and held my arms until I was steady on my feet. "Are you sure you're fine?" he asked apprehensively. I nodded.

"I am."

"And you won't go back?" I hesitated. "Madam Pomfrey said that he'd be better soon, if you take a nap I bet you he'll be back before you wake up," Harry added quickly in a move to try to get me to stay there. I sighed.

"Fine," I said. "I'll stay."

If he wasn't back, I didn't intend to keep that promise. And I think Harry knew that, but he let me head upstairs anyways.

I was on the first landing when I felt it. The food I had previously eaten was coming back up my throat. I had barely made it into the bathroom before I retched.

To be honest, I'm surprised I hadn't gotten morning sickness before that. The most ironic thing? It wasn't even morning. At this point, it was probably about three or four in the afternoon.

Once I had thrown up pretty much everything I had eaten in the past month, I slouched against the wall across from the toilet.

Next thing I knew, I felt someone touching my shoulders gently and jerked my head up to see Regulus sitting next to me.

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Back to Regulus' POV!**

**I'm not even going to make excuse for my lateness. Just please, _please_, accept my sincere, heart-felt apology!**

**I'm also too lazy to go back to look to see who reviewed, so thanks to EVERYONE for the reviews!**

Chapter 26

"_I…I'm pregnant."_

I felt my breath catch in my throat as I instinctively pulled my hands out of hers. My mind went completely blank.

You'd think I'd be happy, _ecstatic_. I _had _told Nicki I wanted several kids. But not yet – _definitely_ not yet. Not only did we have a wedding to plan, but there was the war. And the fact that we were still so young. Nicki might have the mind of someone older, but she was in the body of a sixteen year old – having a baby could _ruin _her.

Not to mention she was undercover.

Oh shit – she was undercover. There was _no _way Riddle wouldn't find out eventually, and I knew she wouldn't stop.

How had this happened? We had only had sex once. Or…y'know…_several_ times. But still, she was on the potion, _and _we had used protection each time.

Unless…

"Is it…is it _mine_?" I asked hoarsely. I had no idea how long I had been silent. Obviously, it had been a while, because Nick was starting to look worried. Her eyes met mine as she nodded.

"Of…of course!" she exclaimed, looking a little hurt.

I hadn't meant to offend her…

"Who else…who else's would it be?" she asked. I knew she could tell by my face who I was thinking of. She seemed to sigh, whether sadly or angrily I couldn't tell. "Okay, first off, if I got pregnant with _his _baby I wouldn't bother having it. I'm sorry, but I couldn't bring another one of them into this world. Second off, I haven't been undercover long enough for it to be his." I sighed, feeling absolutely horrible, before asking quietly,

"Are you…are you _sure?_"

"I swear to you, there's no way it could be anybody else's," she said quickly.

"No," I said quietly, shaking my head. "Are you sure that you're pregnant?" Nick nodded slowly.

"Madam Pomfrey even said so," she said softly, looking down at her hands in her lap. When I saw the horrified, depressed look in her eyes, I knew I had to do something. She looked like she expected me to start yelling or to walk out on her or something. I always knew her to be so strong; I had never seen her look like this before. But I would never, could never, leave her like that.

I shifted so I was sitting directly in front of her on my knees and took her hands in mine, squeezing them lightly. When she continued to look down at her hands, I said gently,

"Hey, look at me." She looked up, her eyes brimming with tears. She blinked slowly, causing tears to overflow from her eyes. I reached up and wiped them away lightly. "I promise you, it's going to be alright, there's nothing to worry or cry about. I know you're scared, I understand, but everything's going to be alright, I swear you."

Nick nodded slowly, as she looked down yet again. "It's just…I'm scared…" She looked back up at me, more tears falling down her cheeks.

"I know," I whispered, leaning forward and setting my forehead against hers. "But I swear to you I'll be there every step of the way." I kissed her briefly before leaning back. "Sirius told me how scared Scarlet was when she first found out she was pregnant with Leah."

"At least they were _trying_," she said, speaking louder than before, as though she were angry. But I knew she was just terrified, which was making her seem testy. _Now _this _is the Nicki I know_. "I had accepted that we would probably eventually have kids, but I don't want one now. I'm only sixteen, and there are so many things going on now that make it so complicated."

She let out a groan before pulling her hands out of mine and burying her face in them. I felt my heart completely break at seeing her about to break break down like that.

For a minute I sat there quietly, partly because I didn't know what to say, partly because I knew that crying would help her get some of her feelings out – I knew she was crying because I could see her shoulders shaking with sobs slightly. But after a moment I sat beside her again and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her against me. She buried her head in my shoulder.

We sat there silently for a while, me holding Nick against me while she cried silently. Only when her shoulders had almost completely stopped shaking did I ask quietly,

"Do you…you don't want an abortion, do you?" She looked up at me, her eyelashes still wet with tears, black makeup smeared down her face, and shook her head.

"I…no, I can't," she said simply. I sighed quietly – I had expected that answer. Even though she didn't want to have kids, she didn't believe in killing an innocent person, and I knew she wouldn't want to give it away.

"Look, it's not going to be the end of the world," I said. "Yes, it's going to be tough. But we'll get through it. We can work it out, okay? We've survived worse, haven't we? At least we know that something happy _will _come of this. At the end, we're going to have a beautiful baby, like Leah and Parker. We're going to be parents."

And that's when it _really _hit me.

_We're going to be parents_. _Nick's going to have a baby. _

For a second, I started freaking out. There were so many things that could go wrong with being pregnant and having a baby at sixteen. So many problems could be caused that could be semi or completely permanent, that could harm or even kill Nick. And then the fact that she was undercover…

"But, er….how is this going to work?" I asked after a minute, my eyes wide, trying not to freak out so that she wouldn't freak out even more. "With…y'know…you being undercover and all."

"That's why I'm scared," Nick whispered. "I'm not even worried about having a baby, or raising it. I've babysat Leah and Parker enough times to understand how to take care of kids. I know it's not the same…but…I think we could do it…But, with the undercover thing…I just…I don't…I have no idea. No _fucking _idea. And I – I –"

I could tell that she was getting worked up again, so I started massaging her shoulders gently, causing her to calm down greatly and completely stop talking.

"Look," I said quietly. "We'll figure this out, alright? We shouldn't worry right now; we just need to…to sort our lives out before we worry about Riddle's, okay?" Nick nodded, blinking. "So…er…does anybody else know?"

"Well…yeah, a few."

"Who?"

"Madam Pomfrey, Lily, James, Harry, and…oh yeah, Remus and Sirius were there…" She suddenly stopped, biting her bottom lip.

"What…?" I asked, a little worried. She mumbled something I didn't understand, looking down at her hands. "What? Does somebody else now?"

"No," she said quickly – so quickly I knew she was lying.

"Don't lie to me," I said quietly. "Who else knows?" She mumbled something I didn't understand, looking down at her hands. "Who?"

"Riddle," she said quietly before she looked back up at me quickly. "I didn't mean to tell him, it just slipped out! I didn't want him to know, not now, not ever, _especially _not before you, but –!"

"W-W-Why…why would you tell him?" I had a feeling there was something she wasn't telling me.

"I didn't want to, I swear!" she said, shaking her head. "I'm _so _sorry, Reg, it slipped out! At least now we don't have to worry about him finding out some other way," she added quietly, shrugging slightly. I stared at her blankly. Now I knew there was something she wasn't telling me.

"You didn't answer my question," I pointed out, starting to get slightly worried. What could Riddle have done that made her tell him something that personal and important? "Why did you tell him? Did he…hurt you, or – or force it out of you, or something?"

"No!" she said quickly. "He just…he made me mad, is all, and I just…let it slip." Even though she was supposed to be such a great liar, I could tell something was wrong.

"You know I love you, right?" I asked. Her eyes met mine and she nodded.

"I –" she started, but she stopped, looking confused, when I shook my head.

"And you can trust me with anything, right?" She nodded again.

"Of course," she said. "Why?" I paused for a moment before looking her straight in the eye and saying,

"Then you know you can tell me what, exactly, he did to make you tell him, right?" Nick sighed and paused for a few moments.

"Trust me," she said, shaking her head. "You don't want to know." I blinked, and I could tell she knew that I still wanted to know. "Or, maybe, you do," she muttered. "Well, he just made me mad, like always, and it slipped out, alright?" I gave her a look that clearly said I didn't believe her. She sighed. "Look, I don't even want to think about it, let alone _talk _about it."

"Nicki, _please_, tell me," I said. "I want to know. I can tell he must've really made you mad." She was silent. "_Please?_"

"Okay, fine," she said. "After I found out the note that Riddle sent you – which was a total lie, by the way, I wasn't there at all," she added quickly. "Anyways, I went to Malfoy Manor and I found Riddle and started yelling at him. But, er, he started threatening you, so –"

"Is that why you told him?" I asked, confused. Nicki was used to Riddle threatening me, if that's all he had done, why had she told him? She shook her head slowly.

"No, no, that's not all," she said. "He was being really creepy and next thing I knew he put me under a Sleeping Charm."

I didn't like where this was going…

"And…when I woke up, I…er…"

"What?"

"He…uh…he tried to…tried to…tried to have sex with me."

She said the last part so fast that I almost didn't understand what she said at first, but then it hit me.

At first, I felt rage, and I wanted to go find Riddle and murder him on the spot – but who knew if he had any Horcruxes made yet, and I would probably end up getting myself killed instead. Then, I realized that this must've traumatized Nick – obviously it had to the point that she had to tell him she was pregnant to get him to stop – and I couldn't leave her alone like that.

But then rage came over me again…

"What?" I asked through gritted teeth, clenching my fists and standing up quickly.

"Where are you going?" Nick asked, startled, as she shifted to sit on her knees.

"What do you think? I'm going to _fucking _murder him." I snarled, starting for the door.

"No – Regulus – please, stay with me – please –" I unlocked the door. "Don't leave me alone, please." I was on the verge of walking out when she said it. It normally wouldn't have bothered me, but I could hear the quiet desperation in her voice and knew I couldn't just abandon her like that when she had just had that huge of a traumatic incident.

I sighed and closed the door lightly behind me before dropping to my knees right in front of Nick, taking her hands in mine. She seemed to be looking anywhere but at me, so I said gently,

"Hey." She still didn't look. "Hey, look at me." She looked up slowly, a look of either impending doom or terror in her eyes. "Tell me what happened."

"I just did," she said, confused.

"No," I said, shaking my head slightly. "Tell me _everything _that happened." She sniffed and paused for a few seconds. 

"Look, I don't want to talk about it right now," she replied quietly. "Can we just go…I don't know, talk to everybody downstairs? I haven't talked to them in a while." I sighed, and, reluctantly, helped her up and started for the door.

"Can you promise me something?" she asked suddenly right before I had opened the door.

"Sure," I said, stopping and turning to face her.

"Please don't tell anybody about the…the whole almost rape thing, please? I just…I don't want people to make it a bigger deal than it is." _It is a pretty big deal_, I thought, but didn't say for fear she would get upset, and instead merely said,

"I promise, alright?" The corners of her lips twitched up slightly.

"Thanks, Reg."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

**(A/N: Back to Nicole's POV. I hope all the changes in POV aren't too confusing, but there should only be a few more to come!)**

The next day, I had literally nothing to do. I was off for the day but, because it was a Wednesday, almost everybody else had to go to work or school. The only people left in Grimmauld place were Mad-Eye, Mrs. Weasley, Lily, Scarlet, and the three children who were too young for Hogwarts yet.

I couldn't stand it there. Lily kept giving me these weird looks, obviously wondering how I was doing with the whole pregnancy issue, and nobody else had anything interesting to say at all.

So, even though Lily had warned me not to, I snuck out while "using the loo." Somehow, Mad-Eye was the only one who seemed to suspect something – however, he must not have told them, because they didn't come searching for me and I knew he would be able to see me leave.

At first, I had no idea where to go. It was the middle of the day on a Wednesday. First I thought of swinging by The Three Broomsticks for a drink, but then I realized that I couldn't drink anymore, since I was pregnant, so I decided just to visit all four of the twins at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

When I passed through the Leaky Cauldron, Tom, the bartender, kept asking me what I wanted – I think I told him I was just passing through at least fifteen times. Finally, I shook him off and walked quickly to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

I could tell the stress of the war was starting to reach the entire wizarding population, even if they didn't all know that Voldemort was back – I suppose the stress of knowing there was 23 escaped convicts on the loose didn't calm anybody. There were posters for nearly every escaped or missing Death Eater covering the fronts of shops, so much you could hardly see into them, and many shops had already been shut down and boarded up.

I could tell it was only going to get worse as the war went on.

I just hoped it didn't get as bad as it had been in my fourth year – Harry's sixth – in my other time. That was dreadful. But as I headed toward Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, I could tell it was going to be that bad soon. Shoppers were already rushing around with nervous looks on their faces, brushing off any of the wizards and witches selling things at the stalls in the middle of the alley without even looking to see what they were.

I slipped into the nearly empty shop without worry and found all four of them in the back, testing some new items to sell.

"Nicki!" Gideon said suddenly when he saw me. The other three all turned to face me. "Long time no see."

"I know," I replied, pulling up a chair around their table and sitting between Fabian and George. "I was starting to miss you guys."

"Well what brings you to Diagon Alley today?" Fred asked lightheartedly.

"Nothing, I was just bored and decided to come visit you guys." I paused and lowered my voice a little. "It's really depressing out there, you'd think they all know that Voldemort's back." They all nodded.

"I know," George said. "I think the only way we keep going when everybody else is slowly loosing business and shutting down is because people need a laugh these days."

"I agree," I said.

"You alright?" Fabian said suddenly. "You seem a little…off." I nodded, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied quietly. "I'm just…a little worried, I suppose. Everything's happening so fast, and I'm getting overwhelmed and nervous."

"You? Nervous?" Fred laughed, sounding disbelieving.

"What are you nervous about?" Gideon asked, ignoring his less mature nephew. I shrugged.

"I just…it's hard to explain. I'm just…getting freaked out. I think I'm finally starting to be terrified of Voldemort just like everybody else."

"Look," Fabian said, "You're the bravest person I know."

"Look what you've been through!" George agreed.

"And look how strong and brave you still are after all of that!" Fred finished for his twin, finally done laughing at me.

"You don't have to think that you're the only person that can kill Voldemort, because we're all in this together, you're not alone," Gideon continued.

"You've got so many people behind you," Fabian said, patting me lightly on the back. "You have reason to be afraid, yes, because Voldemort is ruthless and is capable of so much, but you don't have to worry too much, because you have so many people that love you and will help you."

"But it's not like you need much help anyways," Fred and George said at the same time.

"But if you do, you have so many people behind you that will gladly lend a hand," Gideon finished.

They left me not only flattered but feeling better than I had in a while, like I could do anything, even conquer the world if I wanted to. I smiled at them all.

"Leave it to you guys to be the ones to make me feel better," I said, still smiling. "Who knew you could be serious if you had to be?"

"Well if we need to be Sirius, all we have to do is take Polyjuice Potion," Fred said with a complete straight face. I hit his shoulder lightly.

"Oh, shut up," I muttered. "You were doing so well!" I paused. "Okay, now you have to show me the new stuff you're working on."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I think I spent over two hours talking to them, joking and just having fun for the first time in a while. At one point they broke out some alcohol and didn't understand why I wouldn't take it, but decided they werejust going to drink it even if I refused to.

On my way back out of the alley, most of the people at the stalls set up down it either seemed to recognize me as the girl who had killed Voldemort in the seventies or just didn't bother approaching me, but one brave soul, a scraggly looking wizard with a long black beard, did. He was selling necklaces that apparently blocked not only all Dark Magic but also worked against werewolves, Dementors, and Inferi.

"How about one for you, madam?" he asked in an annoying voice to me as I passed by. "Protect your pretty little neck?" I merely ignored him, but he started following me down the alley a bit, making most of the people walking by stop to watch, wondering how I would react. "Don't want to hurt yourself out there; it's getting more and more dangerous. Don't you want to be protected?" Annoyed, I spun around to face him.

"I'm sorry sir, but do you have a license to be selling these?" He stared at me blankly.

"Huh?" he asked after a minute.

"It's illegal to set up shops in the alley unless you have a license from the Ministry of Magic, and I, as an Auror, have the right to shut you down…next time I'm on duty…if I please."

"You're not an Auror," he said, sneering at me. "You're just a child."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said rather rudely. "But I kinda am." I pulled my Auror badge out of my pocket and showed it to him, as we were required to have it on us at all times even when not on duty. The man started backing away slowly.

"And even if I wasn't an Auror," I continued. "I wouldn't need your phony necklaces anyway. I'm smart enough to know that you're all scams and your necklace probably wouldn't help me against anything at all."

"Well, well, well," a sudden, familiar voice behind me said. "Miss Nicole Potter. I didn't know you had it in you."

I turned around slowly, hoping to Merlin it wasn't who it sounded like, to find myself face-to-face with none other than Bellatrix Lestrange.

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: I'm still too lazy to go back to look to see who reviewed, so thanks to EVERYONE for the reviews!**

**Well, this wasn't as late as last time, right? It's still not as quick as I wish it would've been, but it's that time of year again and I'm soooo busy, so I'm trying to update quickly but if it's too much faster updates will suck.**

**Pleeease bear with me through this lag, I still love you all dearly!**

Chapter 27

_Shit_, I thought. _Motherfucker._

I knew just how much Bellatrix hated me, and with her idol not around to tell her not to, she was likely to murder me first chance she got. It's not that the thought of dying scared me – I'd practically been dead before anyways – but it was the fact that my baby would be dying the scared me.

But then my fear vanished into confusion. What was she doing here? Weren't they supposed to be laying low until they tried to take the Ministry on April first? It was only the 11th of March…

But I realized I had more important things on my mind…

Before she could try to curse me while I was unprepared, I quickly drew my wand. She shot a quick disarming charm at me, but I blocked it easily.

"Come on now, you know you can't take me, we're too even of a match for one another," I taunted her. _Ugh_, I thought_, why do you always find the need to taunt this bitch?_

"Oh, I know," Bellatrix said in a teasing voice. "But I think several of us could take you."

About seven people nearby suddenly whipped down their hoods and turned their wands to me while about seven other people Apparated into the alley simultaneously. They were all Death Eaters that I knew and recognized.

I gulped. There was no way I could take fifteen Death Eaters by myself. But anybody who happened to be nearby had either fled or had been one of the hidden Death Eaters.

"I bet you'd gladly take one of those necklaces now," Bellatrix sneered. "You look terrified." 

"No, not really," I lied. "I'm just trying to pick the best spell to knock you all out."

"Come on, you can't take us all," she said.

"I bet I could," I said. _No, I really don't…please don't try to fight me._ But Bellatrix knew I was bluffing.

"No fiancé around to save your neck now," she said, walking slowly around me, lowering her wand. I didn't dare to lower mine, though. I didn't trust her. At all.

"I don't need Regulus to save me," I said, faking a laugh.

"You know that I know your secret, right?" she said. I almost dropped my smile for a moment – _which secret?_ – but I realized I had to keep it up for my sake. But I knew Bellatrix saw the look in my eyes, it would be hard to miss, plus she smiled gleefully.

"Secret?" I asked, pretending to be confused. "What secret? I don't have any secrets." Bellatrix laughed coldly.

"Obviously you do," she said. "Everybody does. Besides, even if I didn't already know that you did, the look in your eyes when I said that I knew your secret gave away that you _do _have one…" She paused and stopped walking. "Or, perhaps, _more _than one…" I laughed.

"Even if I did have a secret, or _secrets_, I doubt you would know them," I said. "What are you doing here anyways? Aren't you supposed to be _laying low_?" Bellatrix snorted.

"_Me_? Laying low? No, only the Dark Lord is. Besides, everybody knows I'm free, it'll be no shock to anybody that I'm here anyways." I paused. "And _why_ am I here, you ask? The Dark Lord ordered me to come and…_collect _someone."

"Who?" I asked, a little apprehensive. At first I thought she was talking about me, but then I realized it couldn't be true because how could they know I was there?

"It looks as if you know who," Bellatrix said. 

"I _really _don't," I said honestly. I only had two thoughts – Ollivander or…well…me. Or maybe Florean Fortescue, the one who owned the ice cream parlor, they took him in my last life for some reason, a reason I never found out. But then again, Riddle shouldn't need Ollivander, he _knows _that Dumbledore has the Elder Wand, and what harm did Florean pose?

"_You_, obviously," she said.

_So I _was_ right,_ I thought. _Obviously, why hadn't I realized that?_

"Oh really?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. "How did he know I was here?"

At this point, I was biding my time. I wasn't going back to Malfoy Manor until I had to, but I knew I couldn't fight off over fifteen Death Eaters on my own. I just had to wait until somebody, anybody, decided either to help or to alert the Ministry.

"The Dark Lord has his ways," she said. "He knows a lot of people, you see." She had started walking again, and I turned slightly so she would still be directly in front of me.

"Why did he send you to come get me, then?" I asked. Bellatrix sneered.

"I'm not likely to tell you that, am I?" I narrowed my eyes.

"He didn't tell you, did he?" I asked, smiling slightly, taunting her. She frowned, but didn't answer, giving me the impression that he _didn't _tell her.

"Are you going to come with us with no fuss, or are we going to have to force you?" she asked.

But while she was speaking, I had noticed something behind her – through the window to Flourish and Blotts, the assistant had noticed Bellatrix and the Death Eaters surrounding me and was talking hurriedly to the manager and assistant manager. I knew them all personally – I knew they wouldn't just sit around while I was being attacked by Death Eaters. They were bound to do something. 

"Oh, I don't plan on going with you at all," I said. Bellatrix sighed.

"Are you really going to do this to yourself?" she asked. "You're just going to embarrass yourself if you don't come without a fuss." She laughed. "Alone against fifteen others?"

"Oh, I'm not alone," I said, smiling mischievously. She barely had time to look confused when the three workers at Flourish and Blotts, as well as Madam Malkins from next door, Florean Fortescue from across the street, and a few other workers from nearby shops came bursting out of their shops, lifting their wands and screaming, "_Stupefy!_" simultaneously.

Only two Death Eaters fell victim – the rest managed to duck or block the spells. Bellatrix let out an angry scream and whipped out her wand, pointing it directly at me.

I managed to block her first Cruciatus curse as well as the second. I noticed that she wasn't aiming to kill me, which must've meant that she had direct orders not to.

While I was dueling her, the Death Eaters remaining took on the Diagon Alley workers. They were still outnumbered two to one, but the workers were tough and seemed to be managing to hold their own.

Meanwhile, down the alley, Fred and George were talking to a few customers and Gideon and Fabian were still at the back of the shop working on new items. It was then that Fred and George heard several people scream, "_Stupefy!_"

At first they thought nothing of it, but when it followed by a frustrated scream they realized something was going on. They looked at each other for a mere second before running to the door and poking their heads out to look down the Alley.

I later heard that the first thing they saw was Ollivander "kicking Barty Crouch Jr.'s arse." At first, they just thought that Crouch had randomly showed up and Ollivander was trying to take him down, but then they saw the assistant at Flourish and Blotts, a close friend of theirs, fall to a Cruciatus Curse sent by a masked Death Eater and they realized something much larger was going on.

"Gideon! Fabian!" they called frantically back to their uncles at the back of the shop. "Call the Aurors or something, then hurry out here, a bunch of Death Eaters are in the Alley!" Then they ran out to join the battle, followed by their uncles.

I would've seen them coming, but Bellatrix and I were deep in battle at that point. She still refused to try to kill me – at least with the Cruciatus Curse. At one point she threw a nearby park bench at my head, and I had to block it by exploding it to not be killed by it.

But the explosion sent pieces of the bench flying in every direction – one came within inches of my head while another, sharper one lodged itself in my left calf. I winced, pulling it out quickly, but didn't dare let my guard drop for even a second, as I noticed that one piece had hit Bellatrix in the stomach but had done very little damage besides slowing her down for a few seconds.

Bellatrix laughed, noticing the blood coming through the hole the piece of wood had created in my black tights and running down my calf. I scowled, throwing a few more curses at her before she had completely regained herself.

"So how many secrets are you keeping from the Dark Lord, then?" she asked, tossing Dark Magic curses in my direction like it was nothing.

"I don't have any secrets." I paused. "That I'm keeping from him," I added quickly. She smirked.

"So you _do _have secrets?" she said, blocking all the curses I sent her way, sending several at me as well. To my surprise, she started walking closer to me, sending less and less curses and instead just blocking mine. I didn't understand.

"I never said that."

"You practically just did," she contradicted. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have added that last part. Besides, I'm sure you have secrets that you keep from him. You loathe him, and you have the ability to keep secrets from him, so you do."

I decided not to challenge her. She was getting mad, and I knew better than to try to anger her even more.

One of the masked Death Eaters nearby tried to send a simple Stunning Spell at me, but missed terribly and hit another Death Eater instead. I laughed – but the Death Eater got pissed at me and shot the Cruciatus Curse at the same time as Bellatrix.

There was no way I could block both. I tried to block Bella's – I knew hers was bound to be stronger than almost anybody's – and duck the other one, but I only managed to block Bella's, and the other hit my shoulder.

I tried to maintain my balance after having been hit, but as soon as it hit me I was shoved off of my feet and onto the ground, where I felt the familiar sensation of the white-hot blades against my skin and in my insides. I tried not to scream, but a long, involuntary scream escaped my lips.

The pain only lasted for a few moments before it was gone, and I tried to scramble back onto my feet before I was cursed again, but Bellatrix yelled, "_Expelliarmus!_" and my wand flew into her hand.

She stood there laughing, holding two wands in her hand. I sat on the ground, a small pool of blood forming around my calf, unable to do anything. I would've tried wandless magic, but I knew that I would never be able to having just been weakened by the Cruciatus curse as well as the wound in my leg.

"Funny, how you're so arrogant to think we won't be able to overpower you, but it was all too easy," she said, still laughing and walking closer to me until she was standing directly over me. I sighed, annoyed, trying to think of any quick way out of this, before she grabbed my wrist. She turned, seconds from Apparating away –

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a badly aimed Expelliarmus Charm hit her right in the chest, knocking both wands she was holding out of her hand, leaving them to roll across the ground. Bellatrix dropped my arm, lunging after them, when I sprung up after her, pulling her roughly to the ground next to me.

Pissed, she swung her fists at my face, but I ducked it easily, quickly grabbing her wrist as it flew by and gripping it tightly so she couldn't move toward the wands – mine had landed against a wall nearby and hers in the middle of Alley several feet away.

The only problem was – I had never been trained in physical combat. However Bellatrix, it seemed, _had._

The only damage I managed to do was punch her nose as hard as possible. Blood poured out and I heard a snap.

Bellatrix didn't even go for the wands after that. Infuriated, she swung her free hand, which collided with my right temple. I felt something wet drip down my face – blood – and the punch was enough for me to loosen my grip on her other hand enough for her to get free.

I was annoyed. I couldn't take her in a fist fight like this. But I had to try – I had to keep her away from those wands. I threw a punch at her face, but she ducked it. So I shoved her shoulders – not too hard, but hard enough for her to go falling backwards, pulling me with her. Somehow, we ended up rolling down a small hill until we stopped at the bottom.

Bellatrix was on top of me. She used her entire bodyweight to hold me down, pinning my arms down by my side and under her legs. I tried to push her off, but she was larger and stronger than me, not to mention I had no use of my hands or arms, and held me down easily.

I wasn't too worried – how much damage could she do with just her hands?

That was, until she pulled out a dagger.

I gulped.

She merely dragged the tip of the dagger very lightly against the skin on my neck – hard enough for me to feel it, lightly enough to draw no blood. She smiled teasingly.

"Where should I start?" she asked quietly. "Perhaps your pretty little face?" She moved the tip of the dagger up my neck to my face. With a flick of her hand, she had dug the dagger into my right cheek, drawing blood that poured down the side of my face.

I flinched but said nothing, not daring to give into her obvious little game of trying to make me beg her to stop, even though I wanted to so bad.

"You honestly thought you could take me?" she asked, laughing coldly while the battle around us raged on, nobody noticing us having gone down. "Well, you were sadly mistaken."

"I doubt it," I said, still struggling to get out from under her. "I'm never mistaken."

Bellatrix rolled her eyes, and I felt blood from my temple and cheek running into my hair.

"So, you little bitch," she snarled. "Are you going to tell me your secret, or am I going to have to force it out of you?" I shook my head.

"I thought you said you already knew?" I said lightly. Annoyed, Bellatrix grabbed a chunk of my hair and slammed my head against the ground. It didn't draw blood, but it did hurt like hell.

"Don't mock me," she snapped, pushing the knife into the crook my neck enough to draw just a dribble of blood and causing me to whimper slightly. Hearing it, Bellatrix smiled, reveling in my pain and terror. "You're lucky I was told not to kill you or I'd be hurt," she snarled. "Or you'd have this dagger in your heart right now."

"I'm not afraid of you," I muttered quietly. I wasn't _normally_ afraid of her, but now that we were fighting without wands…I was, quite honestly, terrified.

"Yes you are," she whispered. "Or you wouldn't be whimpering like you just were." She pushed the dagger in a little farther. "However…I was never told not to _hurt _you. I can rough you up a little, if I'd like, as long as I don't _kill _you…"

I was tired of sitting here with Bellatrix on top of me, having no way to get out. When we had rolled down the hill, we had rolled far enough away from the battle for nobody – neither Death Eater nor Order member – could see me seconds from being murdered.

I had never been able to perform wandless magic when injured before, but if I couldn't this time the effects could be detrimental…

I used all of my strength left to use magic to throw Bellatrix off of me and several feet across the Alley. The dagger flew out of her hand and landed on the low roof of a nearby building.

I jumped to my feet, panting, and ran up the hill to get my wand before she could retrieve the dagger. I ducked curses that were flung my way, limping forward and scooping my wand up quickly.

I turned to find her in the middle of the Alley, having just picked up her own wand and pointing it at me.

I hesitated – I didn't understand how the hell she had gotten up so fast – but not for long, because she shot several curses at me that I had to block and duck so I wasn't hit.

It was then, of course, that several more Aurors decided to arrive – when I least needed them. As soon as they noticed them, the Death Eaters stopped their attack and, as one, Apparted away. Bellatrix remained for a second to snarl at me,

"This isn't over. I'll get you next time, bitch," before she too Apparated away.

As soon as she was gone, I found myself stumbling backward, trying to keep balance on my bed leg. I was loosing blood in several different places, and my head was pounding.

But when I saw the destruction the battle had caused, I completely forgot my pains.

Glass from shattered windows and bodies littered the ground. Blood stained the ground, walls, and bodies. I saw both pairs of twins a couple feet away talking to a few other workers and an Auror, whom I recognized instantly – James.

But I was scanning the crowd for somebody else – Regulus.

And I found him, down the Alley quite a ways. He was carrying a young girl in his arms. From such a distance, she appeared to be about six years old, and was clinging onto him, crying. I assumed he was helping her to find her parents.

While I was watching him, I felt something touch my shoulder and jumped, turning around quickly to find Sirius behind me.

"Sirius," I sighed. "You scared me."

"Are you okay?" he asked, bending down to look at the deep scratch in my calf.

"Yeah," I replied, flinching slightly when he touched it.

"We have Healers coming soon, I'll be sure to send one over to you when they get here, alright?" he said. I nodded – there was no use in refusing, as it really did hurt. "Here – sit down. I need to talk to you." He led me over to a nearby park bench and pushed me onto it lightly, sitting beside me.

"What's up?" I asked, confused. What could he possibly want to talk to me about at the scene of the battle?

"What was Bellatrix here for?" he asked. I shrugged.

"I don't –"

"Don't say you don't know," he interrupted. "I was told that you were talking to her before the battle started, and I'm pretty sure you know."

"All I know was that she was here to find me," I replied quietly. Sirius sighed.

"Nick, things are getting out of hand…with the Death Eaters and all…" I nodded – I knew that. There had been five attacks in the last week – six now, I suppose. Sirius sighed again. "We need your help to get rid of Voldemort as soon as possible –"

"You mean you want me to use my spot as spy to try and kill him before he gets too powerful?" Sirius nodded slowly.

I wasn't surprised. If anything, I was shocked that he had waited so long before asking this. But I…I knew I couldn't do it. I wouldn't only give myself away, but I would give Draco and probably Harry away as well. And I couldn't do that to them.

"Look, Sirius, I can try," I said. "But I can't make any promises. If I step one toe out of line, they will know that I'm a spy, which will give Draco and Harry away as well. And if they know they're spies…they're probably going to kill them…"

"I know," he said, nodding again. "But you have to realize what we're dealing with." He took on a slightly bitter tone, which shocked me. "At least ten people have been killed here alone. If you don't try to help us as much as possible, we could _all _end up dead, and it could be all because of you."

Those words stung, and he knew it. That's why he said it, though – he wanted to do, to say, anything that would get me to agree to help them. I sighed.

"Alright, I'll try to help. But," I added quickly. "I'm not going back to that Manor until I have to. Which means until he tells me to go back. I want to spend as long away from it as I can, at least for now." Sirius didn't seem too happy with my answer.

"Fine," he said, standing up quickly. "But I'll have you know, if we all end up killed, it'll be all on _your _shoulders."

I rolled my eyes and sighed as he walked away. In a way, I thought he was right, though deep down I think I knew it wouldn't _all _be my fault.

I stood up slowly, grinding my teeth when I put pressure on my injured leg.

"Nick! Nicole!"

I turned around quickly to find Regulus hurrying toward me. At first, he looked relieved to see me, until he noticed just how much I was bleeding. As soon as he reached me, he threw his arms around my waist, while mine went up around his neck, holding him close. He lifted me up slightly, so my feet were just inches off of the floor.

"You had me so worried," he said softly in my ear.

"What else is new?" I asked jokingly. I leaned back, setting my forehead against his. He kept me lifted up slightly. Though he still looked concerned, I saw a smile playing on his lips.

"Fred and George said that you were in their shop, and Ollivander said he saw you dueling Bellatrix, so when I couldn't find you I started to get worried." He paused, the smile dropping off of his face as he set me back on my feet gently. "What did she want?"

I paused, using the back of my hand to wipe blood away from my mouth.

"I'm not sure," I answered. Regulus rose his eyebrows. "I mean, she said something about wanting me, but I…I don't know why." He sighed slightly, kissing me briefly before leaning back and saying,

"Let's get you fixed up, alright?" I nodded, allowing him to pull me over to a nearby Healer. She was helping the assistant from Flourish and Blotts, who seemed to have broken his ankle, and Regulus and I sat on the curb, leaning against a nearby shop, waiting for her to finish.

I was exhausted. Using the wandless magic while already injured had almost knocked me out. I rested my head on Regulus' shoulder, and feel asleep within seconds.


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to EVERYONE for the reviews!**

**I swear I'm trying to get back to at least updating every other week. But no promises, and I'm sooo sorry! I still love every reader!**

Chapter 28

That night, my dreams swarmed of faces of those I loved. But they were bloodied, mutilated, lifeless. And somehow I knew it was all my fault.

Just like Sirius had said it would be.

I woke with a start several times to find it late at night or early in the morning, Regulus still sprawled out beside me, his arm draped lightly over my side, his hand resting on my stomach gently. I would roll over, bury my face in his chest, before falling back to sleep into a world of familiar screaming voices.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

When I finally woke up in the morning, I found Regulus still sound asleep. I couldn't bear to wake him up or lie there waiting for him to wake up with nothing to think about but those dreams, so I took a quick shower and headed downstairs to get some breakfast.

I knew I would have to do something to get my mind off of what Sirius had said. I knew he was one-hundred percent, completely and utterly right, both in the sense that it was true and it was appropriate to say it , but I couldn't bear to sit around and think like that by myself all day.

Thank Merlin I had to work, as did Regulus. The only problem with that was that Sirius would most likely be there, and I really didn't want to deal with him after everything he had said. But I couldn't avoid him forever.

When I entered the kitchen, I stopped in the doorway when I saw, among the usual faces, Bill Weasley and his newly-wed wife, Fleur.

"Hey Bill, Fleur," I said, alerting them to my presence. "What are you guys doing here?"

"It's getting really unsafe out there," Bill answered. "Mum asked Sirius, and he said that you had an open room, so we're going to come stay here too."

That brought the total number of people staying in this house to 23, including the children there. How would we all fit when Hogwarts was out, and Remus and the rest of the kids had to come stay? We would be taking turns sleeping on the floor and in the hallways. Maybe we would have to even enlarge this dang house somehow.

"I hope that's okay," Bill added, probably seeing the apprehensive look on my face. I shook my head quickly to clear it and replied quickly,

"Oh, it's fine! Sorry, I just got lost in thought there for a moment."

I took the empty seat across from Alice and Lily and whispered, "If anybody else shows up we're going to have to move back to the Room of Requirement."

"I'm just worried about once summer comes," Alice replied. "Where are all these kids going to stay?"

"We're going to probably have to take the time and energy to make everybody's house a safe house," Lily said. "It only makes sense."

"That's a waste of time," I said absentmindedly as I saw Fred and George, who had just come downstairs, greeting their brother behind Alice and Lily. "If we do that we should only do a few houses, the largest ones." I paused. "Personally I don't see why we can't just go back to the Room of Requirement. It gets as large as you need it to."

"Hey, Nick."

I jumped slightly at the sudden voice in my ear and turned to see Sirius standing behind me. I really didn't want to speak to him, but I wasn't about to be rude to him when Lily was right across from me and James not too far away. Technically, I was still underage, and had to do as they said, no matter how I felt about it.

"Could I speak to you?" He paused, looking at an interested Lily. "Alone," he added.

"Whatever you have to say to my daughter, you can say in front of me," Lily said.

"Trust me, Lily, it's nothing important," Sirius said. Lily huffed, but let it go as I stood up and followed Sirius silently to the hallway leading to the bathroom in the basement. I crossed my arms stubbornly and leaned against the wall.

"Look, Nick," he said quietly, his eyes meeting mine. "I'm really sorry, about…about what I said yesterday." I started to reply, but he kept talking. "It's just…I'm so stressed. I'm Head Auror, I'm supposed to be bringing in dark wizards left and right, but we haven't caught any, and…"

He made a sound of exasperation, turning around and running his fingers through his hair, yanking on it lightly.

"And yesterday, after the attack, I just let the stress get to me and took it out on you." He turned back to me, dropping his hands onto my shoulders and gripping them lightly. "I shouldn't have said what I did; it wouldn't be your fault –"

"But it would be," I interrupted. "I know so much more than any of the Aurors, and I don't even bother telling you. You could have caught _all _of the Death Eaters by now…" 

Sirius laughed, causing me to glare at him.

"They would've known you told," he said, still laughing slightly. "And besides, they're not _all _dumb, some of them would've gotten away."

"But –"

"Don't you think for a second that it would be your fault, alright?" he said, shaking my shoulders slightly, trying to get the message through my head. Even though I _did _think it was my fault, and for much more than a second, I simply nodded and said,

"Alright. And I understand, I say a lot of stupid shit when I'm upset too." Sirius smiled and gave me a quick hug before he led me back to the kitchen, where everybody staying in the house was now eating. I pulled up a chair beside Regulus and Tonks, who seemed to be about ready to pop.

"When are you due again Tonks?" I asked after a few minutes.

"April 15th," she replied. "Although I'm hoping its sooner, not only am I annoyed with being fat, but I can't stand to sit around helpless for too much longer or I might explode."

Though she didn't know how much I understood, I really did. First off, I knew more than I could tell anybody, because they would act on it and Riddle would know. And that would have very detrimental effects. Second off, I was pregnant as well, though she didn't know that yet, and soon I would be unable to do a lot of things too.

I just dared to hope the war would be over before that day came.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The only thing that happened at work was a tiny raid in a small Muggle town in Whales. Although a Dark Mark was left in the sky, nobody was even injured, let alone dead. There was only a few missing valuables, and several sightings of Wormtail, Rowle, and Selwynn.

When I had finished for the day late in the afternoon, I realized that it felt like years since I had last spoken to Severus or Dumbledore and decided to swing by Hogwarts to visit the two of them. I should probably get around to telling them both, especially Dumbledore, about the pregnancy.

I had originally planned on visiting Dumbledore first, thinking that maybe he would be able to shed some light on the whole pregnancy situation, but something made me visit Sev first. Maybe because he was one of my good friends, despite our now sudden age difference, and had been with me through a lot. I knew he wouldn't judge me based on the pregnancy, and I knew he would be one of the few to actually know right away that it's Regulus's.

I knocked on the door to his office lightly, and almost immediately his drawling voice called out,

"Enter." I did so, closing the door softly behind me.

"What do you want –?" he started, not even having looked up from the papers he was grading. But I didn't let him finish.

"Is that all you _ever _do?" I asked. "Grade papers?" He looked up sharply at the sound of my voice.

"Nick! You're alright!" he exclaimed. I narrowed my eyes.

"Of course I am," I said, sitting in the chair across from him. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I heard about how you had the misfortune of finding Bellatrix in Diagon Alley yesterday," he said. "Heard she gave you a pretty good beating." I laughed humorlessly.

"Yeah, that's no lie," I said. "I still have the marks to prove it." I moved my finger lightly across my neck and then over my check absentmindedly, where there were scars from Bellatrix's dagger, though I could already tell they were fading. There was also still a very light mark where my temple had been bleeding.

"That witch is ruthless," Sev said, taking notice of my new scars. "I can't even begin to explain how much I…_loathe_ her."

I didn't reply. I was too busy thinking, wondering, questioning. I didn't know if I should tell Sev before I told Dumbledore. But I wanted to. He was one of the few people, along with Harry and Regulus, who could always manage to make me feel better. Two of the three already knew, but Sev didn't, and I felt bad withholding it from him.

And I also wanted to tell somebody about what Sirius said who _wouldn't _try to kill him, like I knew Regulus and Harry would.

Severus narrowed his eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked, noticing my silence and how strange it was for me to be quiet. I nodded slowly, still trying to decide if I should tell him or not, and he saw my pause. "Okay, now I know you're not alright," he said. "What's wrong?" I hesitated again, looking down at my hands.

"I…I'm pregnant."

Sev was silent. I didn't say anything – I didn't even look up at him.

I don't know why I was always so scared about what people's reactions would be. I'm probably just socially awkward or something.

"Well congratulations," he said after a moment. I looked up at him finally, shocked.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"What do you mean, 'what'? That's what you say when somebody get's pregnant, right?" I couldn't help but smile. "You weren't trying though, were you?" I shook my head.

"No, we're not _stupid_," I said. "Now would be a horrible time to get pregnant. It was just…by chance."

"So that's why you're upset?" he asked. I should've known that he would be able to sense it was something else.

"Well…not really, not anymore. I just felt like it was time that I told you. You're one of my closest friends, I'm about two months pregnant, and you didn't even know."

"Don't feel bad," he said. "I understand that you have a lot going on at the moment and you just haven't had time." He paused. "But if you don't tell me what's bothering you right now, I _will _force you to." I sighed, smiling slightly at his antics.

"It's just…yesterday, after the attack, Sirius came up to me and started telling me that I really should start finding out more about the Death Eaters' plans and telling him, and if I didn't and everybody died, it would be all my fault, and –"

"Don't tell me you believed him," Severus interrupted sternly. I cringed slightly and shrugged.

"I mean…wouldn't you, if you were me?"

"No!" he exclaimed. "First of all, nobody's going to die, we have this all under control, and second of all, it wouldn't be your fault at all!" 

"But who knows how long we _will _have it under control! And if it screws up and people die, it'll be because I knew something but didn't feel the need to tell somebody who could do something about it." 

"You're ridiculous; it wouldn't be your fault at all!"

"But –"

"Would you be the one that said the curse that took their life?"

"No, but –"

"Exactly, so it wouldn't be your fault!"

I was silent. While that was true, I knew that if any of that did happen, I'd still blame myself.

"Look, I know it's easy to blame yourself for something like that, but if that does happen, and I promise that it _won't_,you can't punish yourself over something you can't change anymore," he said in a kinder tone than before. "You're strong, you're one of the ones we can't win this war without, you can't let yourself break down over something like that or this war will probably be a failure."

I sighed, still not responding. I didn't want to admit that he was right, but he did propose a rather good argument.

"Look, I know you probably came here to talk to Dumbledore, so I'm going to let you go so I can finish grading papers, alright?" Severus said. I nodded curtly before making to leave. Before opening the door, I turned back to him and said quietly,

"Thanks, Sev." He smiled and nodded slightly as I left the room.

When I entered the Entrance Hall, I found that they were serving dinner and most of the students were in the Great Hall. Being as I really didn't want to see anybody I knew besides Sev and Dumbledore – even Draco and Harry could stay away for all I cared – I quickly darted away from the doors to the Great Hall and found myself hurrying up the stairs to his office.

But I was barely halfway up the first set of stairs when I heard somebody calling my name. I sighed, annoyed. I'm not going to lie, I was tempted to just ignore them, but when I recognized the voice I decided that I may as well take the time to talk to my own brother.

"Hey Nick, what're you doing here?" Harry asked when he was standing beside me. I saw Hermione and Ron trailing along behind him, but I started up the stairs again without waiting for the two of them to catch up.

"Oh, I just came to speak with Dumbledore."

"Why?" Harry asked, suddenly apprehensive. "Is everything alright–?"

"Its fine, I'm fine, everything's fine," I said quickly, cutting him off. He let out a sigh of relief, and I could see his whole body relaxing. He must've been so worried he tensed up. It was nice to know that, no matter how distant we become, he still worried about me, his little sister who was given so much more notice than him that she wouldn't blame him if he hated her.

"Then what do you need to speak to Dumbledore about?" Harry asked, now sounding merely curious.

"It's just…" I glanced back at Ron and Hermione and found them listening it. "Oh, it's nothing important. I just need to talk to him about the situation at Headquarters."

"What situation?" Hermione asked.

"Bill and Fleur moved in recently, and it's getting pretty crowded. I just want to ask him about putting protective charm on another house like the Burrow or something," I said simply. _You're such a horrible person,_ I thought to myself. _Why not just tell them the truth? Ron and Hermione will find out eventually anyway. _But I just couldn't bring myself to tell them. Not yet.

"Oh," Ron said, obviously disappointed that it wasn't something more interesting.

"But besides the fact that it's crowded, how is everything at Headquarters?" Harry asked. I shrugged.

"Alright," I said. "I mean nothing extremely good or bad has happened. Tonks looks ready to pop though."

"It's going to be hard, raising a baby at a time like this," Hermione said in a quiet voice. "With everything going on right now. Especially because Lupin won't be there, and since Tonks is an Auror she'll have to be back to work pretty quickly afterward, won't she?" I shrugged.

"Well, maybe with everything going on, now is the best time to have a baby," I suggested. "Who knows if you'll have the chance when the war's over? God forbid, but one, if not both, of them might not survive."

"But that's more reason _not _to have a baby," Hermione said, now sounding slightly annoyed. "If one of them dies, then the other will be a single parent, and if they both die then that baby will be left an orphan."

I remained silent. She had a point, a point that I had yet to think of. I had accepted my imminent death – you can only betray Tom Riddle for so long before he realizes and kills you – but what if Regulus was killed too? What if he wasn't and had to raise the baby on his own? Would he be able to after loosing me? I know I wouldn't after loosing him…I would shut down if I ever lost him…

"Ron, Hermione, can I have a moment alone with my sister?" Harry asked, noticing my sudden silence and knowing what had caused it. His eyes searched my face nervously. "I need to speak with her for a moment." Ron and Hermione shared an inquiring glance before Hermione nodded and Harry pulled me off into a nearby hallway while they continued up the stairs, probably to the Common Room.

"Nicki, don't listen to Hermione," Harry said as soon as he had practically shoved me into an empty classroom and pulled the door shut behind him. "She doesn't know –"

"But that's all the more reason to believe her," I said quickly. "If she knew, she wouldn't have said what she really felt."

"Just because Hermione feels that way doesn't make it right," he said before I could say any more. "Personally, I agree with you, now _is_ the best time to have a child if you're going to. But the thing is, you don't have to worry about not being around, because you and Regulus are as safe as you possibly can be –"

"_Regulus_ is, you mean," I interrupted again. I think I have a problem with interrupting him. Harry looked at me, confused. "_Regulus_ is safe, _I'm_ not," I clarified. "Not being undercover, not being around Riddle all the time, not lying directly to his face every time I see him."

"Nothing's going to happen to you either, I promise," he said, pulling me into a tight hug. "I won't let anything bad happen to you, I swear." I nodded.

"I know." It went without me saying that I wouldn't let anything happen to him either. I already knew that he was aware of it.

"Everything's going to be alright in the end, I promise."

"But what if it's not?" I asked quietly after a moment of hesitation.

"Then you just haven't reached the end yet," he said before leaning back. "I suppose I should let you go get to Dumbledore since that's why you came here in the first place." I nodded, not saying anything, as he headed for the door.

Just before he opened it, he turned back for a second.

"Don't be a stranger, alright?" he asked. "I miss my little sister." I smiled slightly, hesitated, and then threw myself into his arms again.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, still holding onto him as if my life depended on it. "I'm sorry…I didn't realize…I miss you too, so much…" Harry was silent for a long moment, holding me tightly and running his hand down the ends of my hair slowly.

"I know," he replied quietly, still holding me. "I understand." He paused. "I love you, so much. I don't know what I'd ever do without you. I wonder how, in my other life, I ever won that war without you. I wouldn't ever be able to do it in this one."

"Shh. I love you too. You don't ever have to wonder that because you'll never have to deal with anything like that in this life, I promise." I leaned back, my arms still around his neck. He kissed my forehead gently before he left the room without another word.

As soon as the door shut behind him, I found myself sliding down one of the walls and sitting in fetal position, my back still against the wall. I wasn't going to cry, but I felt horrible.

How had I managed to cut out even my own brother, the one person who's been there with me through everything, from back in the other life, back in the 70s (even if only in spirit), until now? I felt like such a horrible person.

I didn't sit there for long before I stood up and headed out of the room. I wanted to get to Dumbledore's before the crowd of kids started coming up the Grand Staircase to get wherever they were going after dinner.

When I stepped back onto the stairs, I could see Harry toward the seventh floor. Being only on the third, he had gotten far. Down on the first floor I could see Johnny Longbottom with one of his friends starting up the stairs. I thought his friend looked familiar, but I couldn't place a name.

Come to think of it, I had cut Johnny out too. We used to be inseparable, but now I hadn't spoken to him for several months. But now wasn't the time to talk to him, I had other important business to deal with.

Apparently Johnny didn't agree. I assume from the moment he noticed me he started calling my name, rushing up the stairs to catch up. I tried to ignore him, to make him think it wasn't me, but it didn't work, and soon I felt his hands on my shoulders turning me to face him.

"Nicole, why are you ignoring me?" he asked as soon as I was facing him. But I wasn't listening to him. I had my eyes set on something else.

While I hadn't expected his practically unfamiliar friend to come with him, he had. And when I laid my eyes on that friend, I felt all the air rush out of my lungs as though I had been hit by a bus.

The "friend" who he had been walking with was Tom Riddle.

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to EVERYONE for the reviews!**

Chapter 29

I heard Johnny say something to me, but I was too busy staring at Riddle with wide eyes to hear him. Riddle was smirking at my sharp intake of breath – which, by the way, I was still holding from at least a minute previously.

"_Hello?_ Nicole?" Johnny asked, waving his hand in front of my face. I finally let out my breath and jumped slightly, turning to face him, my eyes still wide. He looked confused, shocked, and I could see Riddle still smirking at me out of the corner of my eyes.

"What?" I asked him sharply and rather rudely. Johnny looked taken aback.

"Nick, this is Marcus, Marcus Gaunt," he said slowly and quietly, looking slightly nervous at my reaction. "Marcus, this is Ni –"

"Yeah, we've…we've _met_," I said simply, narrowing my eyes at Riddle, who still smirked. Johnny looked confused, but didn't bother asking – I suppose he was used to me doing things he just didn't understand.

"Nice to see you again," Riddle said, his smirk finally disappearing to a "friendly" smile, but I could still see the sneering in his eyes.

"Are you guys…_friends_?" I asked, hoping that the answer wouldn't be what I expected.

"Oh, yeah, Mark's cool," Johnny said. _Oh shit…he's calling him Mark…this isn't going to be good… _"Even though he's in Slytherin, he's pretty awesome. He's smart and funny and pretty popular, even if he did just move here."

"Why did you move here again?" I asked, finally no longer shocked and just annoyed that Riddle always turned up wherever I went. "Dumbledore said, but I can't remember. You…you were expelled for harming innocent students, right?" I asked maliciously. Riddle's eyes flashed dangerously, and I knew I was close to crossing the line – or maybe I had already crossed it.

"No," he said through gritted teeth. "I was homeschooled and my teacher died."

"Oh," I said sarcastically, holding out the word for a few seconds. "I must be getting you confused with somebody else." Riddle smiled slightly, waving it away as though it was nothing, but I could see the anger in his eyes. I swallowed, but I wasn't going to apologize, not even sarcastically.

"What're you doing here?" Johnny asked. I sighed, refusing to look at Riddle no matter what.

"I…I came to talk to Sev," I replied.

"_Snape_?" Johnny asked, making a disgusted face. "I don't understand how you can stand him, he's a jackass." I couldn't help but laugh slightly.

"Yeah, maybe," I replied quietly. "But I don't know, I guess depending on the other to survive for quite a while gives you some sort of connection you can't just ignore."

"If that's why you came here," Riddle asked suddenly, raising his eyebrows,"then why are you going upstairs?" I turned to him, glaring slightly.

"First off, I don't think that's _your_ business, _Mark_," I snarled.

"Nick!" Johnny exclaimed, shocked at my harshness. He shook his head suddenly. "Mark, could I have a moment alone with Nick?" Riddle nodded, turning to go up the stairs. When he had turned, Johnny asked, "Why are you being so rude? You don't even know Mark!"

"Oh, but I do!" I exclaimed. "More than you know!" I looked around, noticed a few students a little away watching us awkwardly. "Can we talk somewhere more…private?" Johnny shrugged, looking pissed at me.

"I don't care. Where?"

"Come on, I have just the place."

I headed up the stairs and led him straight to the Room of Requirement, simply asking it for a place where we could talk in private. When the door appeared and I opened it, I found myself in a small cozy room that looked considerably like a much smaller version of the Grffyndor Common Room. I didn't even sit down before I turned to Johnny and said quickly,

"You have to stop talking to him."

"What've you got against Mark? You don't even know him!"

I knew I shouldn't just going around blurting things like this out, but it slipped before I could stop it:

"But I do know him and a whole lot better than you do!" Johnny stared at me, his eyebrows narrowed.

"What are you talking about?" he asked suspiciously. I sighed, running my fingers through my hair and sitting down on one of the red, plush armchairs around the fire. I saw Johnny sit down slowly across from me.

I wanted to tell him. I wanted him to stay away from Riddle. All Riddle was doing was getting on his good side so he could either get him to join his ranks or somehow force him to join his ranks. I wanted to tell Johnny this, I wanted to tell him it all, but I knew Riddle would use Legilimency on him and, as far as I know, he didn't know Occlumency.

"I can't tell you," I said quietly. I looked back up at him. "I just…I can't tell you!" I exclaimed, now getting angry. "I want to, I want to so bad, but I _can't_."

"Why can't you?"

"Well, first off, I physically _can't_," I said. If Riddle was going to use Legilimency on him, I needed to make sure all of my lies were spot on so he wouldn't suspect anything. "And second off, you don't know Occlumency and if I _did _tell you he would find out and I wouldn't be in a very good situation."

As a matter of fact, he would probably get mad even at telling Johnny this much, and I probably already shoved myself into a sticky situation right here. Well, too late now.

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"If I tell you and he finds out, I'll be in deep _shit_," I replied simply. "Because I know him, Johnny, I know him a whole lot better than you do. I've known him a long time. He has a temper, and he hates me. And if I tell you…well, there's a good chance you'll never see me again."

What was I doing? This was way too far. I had practically just told Johnny that "Mark" was a murderer. And when Riddle finds out, he'll be pissed. But it's not like he never told me _not _to tell anybody anything like this…

"Just…just trust me, okay?" I asked Johnny. "You need to stop talking to him."

Johnny hesitated for a long time. So long I was considering just getting up and leaving. He was staring into the fire, a contemplating look on his face, before he finally turned to me and said in a voice so soft I could barely hear him,

"I don't know if I _can_ trust you, though."

I know my face was blank. I just stared at him for what felt like hours while this processed in my brain.

One of my best friends didn't trust me.

He didn't trust me.

_He didn't trust me_.

It would've been less painful to be hit with the Cruciatus Curse.

And it's not like he just didn't trust me about the answer to homework or who I was dating or some stupid schoolgirl drama like that. It was something that could cause him to survive or, Merlin forbid, get killed. I couldn't have him not trusting me on something this important, I had to prove my honesty to him somehow. Even if it meant telling him the truth, at least it would save his life, though it would probably end mine.

"Look, it's not just _you_," he said quickly after a few moments of me staring at him blankly. "It's everybody. I don't think I can trust anybody anymore."

"No." I said it so quickly and so sternly that I surprised even myself. But I knew where I was going with it. "You have to have somebody you can trust."

"I just –"

"No," I repeated, less harshly. "Even in the darkest of times, there's one person you can _always _trust." Johnny narrowed his eyes at me.

"If you're going to say _you_ –"

"No, I'm talking about your brother. Because believe it or not, I know him very well. I've known him in two lifetimes. He is honestly one of the bravest people I've ever met, and I can guarantee that he'll always be there for you and never do anything to hurt you or your parents or your sister."

"Neville?" Johnny asked, raising his eyebrows. "Are you sure you've got the right person? He's kind of a coward." I know my face turned into a glare almost instantly.

"When the time comes, he'll come through, I've seen him stand up to Voldemort himself in my other life, remember?" I pointed out. Johnny stared at me.

"I still don't think I can trust _you _though."

"I don't blame you. It's hard to trust anybody at a time like this."

"That's not exactly why I don't trust you," he said softly. I blinked. "I mean that's partially why, but not completely."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused, thinking over everything I had ever said or done to him that could make him not trust me anymore.

"I think it's just that…you were there for me, you were my best friend, for _years_, and then it just suddenly stopped. Everything changed. I trusted you, you had earned that trust, and then you went and threw it away when you just stopped talking to me."

I hesitated.

"Look, Johnny, I'm sorry, I've just had a lot of stuff going on lately," I said.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't know because you don't tell me anything!"

I sighed, running my fingers through my hair.

"I'm sorry, Johnny, I really am," I said quietly. "But if you're ever going to trust me, now is the time. Simple things like this could be a matter of life and death; not only for yourself, but for those you love as well." Johnny stared at me. I knew he didn't want to trust me but he was scared; scared that I might actually be right and if he didn't trust me he could cause the death of his family.

"Fine," he said after a minute. He sounded angry, and I understood. He didn't want to admit defeat, but he didn't want to cause harm to his family if I really was right. "But I still don't trust you."

After a few seconds he made for the door, he didn't even say goodbye, and I didn't blame him. I wouldn't want to talk to me either if I was in his situation.

"Hey Johnny," I said suddenly when I was sure he was almost to the door. When I looked over my shoulder I saw him stop to look at me when his hand was on the doorknob. "I miss you too, and I'm sorry, I really am." His lips twitched up slightly and he nodded.

"I know, Nick."

And he left.

I sat there for a few minutes mulling things over. While the obvious fact that Johnny didn't trust me made me feel like he had stabbed me, I couldn't bring myself to be mad or even upset with him. I understood what he was saying though; it was hard to trust somebody, specifically somebody who had simply become somebody that he used to know.

After about ten minutes, I stood up and headed for the door. I still hadn't spoken to Dumbledore and I could see by looking out the window the sun was almost halfway set. Regulus would start to wonder what was taking me so long and would start to worry a little too much if I didn't get home soon.

As soon as I had opened the door, however, a familiar voice drawled,

"Hello, Nicole. Nice to see you again."

_Damn it_, I thought. What the hell was I thinking? I should've realized Riddle wouldn't let me get away that easily.

I clenched my teeth and forced myself to turn to face the direction his voice had come from and found him leaning against the wall in a provocative pose, smirking at me. I glared at him, and he nodded to the wall I had just appeared through.

"Are you going to get the hint that I want you to go back in, or am I going to have to force you?" I sighed, spun on my heels, and marched back to the wall, thinking the same thing as before, and stormed inside. I knew Riddle was right on my heels.

I was tired of him showing up every where I went. Was he following me or were they all just coincidences? I didn't know what to think. All I know was that he annoyed the fuck out of me and I would give almost anything to just kill him right now and get it over with.

I actually paused to consider it before he came in the door behind me and I realized that if I did, all hell would break loose.

I refused to look at him. Instead I stared at the fire in the fireplace. Maybe that's what he wanted; maybe he thought that if I refused to look at him it meant I was afraid of him. But I only didn't look at him because I was very irritated.

"I really need to go talk to Dumbledore," I said, looking for some way to get out of this situation. I didn't want to deal with him after…after what had happened last time I had seen him.

"He can wait," Riddle said simply and patiently. I heard one of the red plush sofas sink under his weight. I still stared at the fire, refusing to look even in his direction. "What did you need to talk to him about anyways? Anything important?"

"No," I lied simply. I could just imagine Riddle's sly smirk behind me.

"Come, sit down," he said smoothly. I didn't move. "Now!" he barked. I sighed, turned around, still looking directly at anything but him, and sat down across from him, still staring at the fire.

Riddle was quiet for a few minutes before he asked, "What did you tell the Longbottom kid?"

"I told him to stay away from you," I answered honestly. He would find out if I was lying or not when he used Legilimency on Johnny anyways, so I might as well be truthful.

"And did you tell him _why_?" Riddle asked interestedly.

"I told him that I _couldn't _tell him why, even though I wanted to, but that I knew 'Marcus' better than he did and I knew that being friends with him could harm not only Johnny but his family as well."

Riddle was silent, but out of the corner of my eyes I could see him watching me through narrowed, suspicious eyes.

"What would ever possess you to say such a thing?" he asked. I stared at him.

"He's one of my best friends," I said. "I couldn't let him getting mixed up with you and the Death Eaters. He's better than that."

"Well you haven't been a very good friend to him lately."

How did Riddle always seem to know exactly what to say to make me feel worse in any and every situation? I didn't understand. Maybe he knew me better than I even knew me. Which was possible, as I felt like I didn't really know me at all anymore.

I didn't respond.

"Besides," he continued, obviously not having expected me to answer. "It's too late to save him anyways." I blinked.

"What do you mean?" I asked, almost terrified to hear the answer.

"Just like the tons of other students who've decided to get even just close enough to me to tell me their first names, he's practically signed up to be one of my Death Eaters."

"What do you mean?" I repeated.

"Either they will agree to join me, or I will force them," he said simply.

"How will you…how will you force them?"

"Threaten them, or their families, most likely," he answered. I saw him shrug. "It should be simple enough. Some might join without a fuss, some might have to be tortured or threatened or put under the Imperious. Some might even have to be kidnapped and killed, since they will probably figure out my plan and still refuse –" 

"You can't do that!" I exclaimed, suddenly cutting him off. "Somebody will figure it out, you'll be caught."

"Really? I think I'm smarter than that, and I think you know I am too." Yeah, he was right, I did. He was smarter than anybody I had ever met, and I knew he would figure out how to do it without getting caught.

"Well then…I'll tell somebody!" I exclaimed.

"No, you won't, because I forbid it." I huffed, crossing my arms and glaring at the fire as if it had caused me some sort of harm.

"Heard Bellatrix nearly killed you the other day."

"Really?" I asked sarcastically. "I was unaware," I added in a dead tone. I could see Riddle glaring at me, as if contemplating whether or not to slap me for that remark.

"Trust me, I made her pay for the pain she inflicted upon you," he replied, still debating if he should or not.

"Good, now I don't have to."

"I told her, you know," he said after a moment of silence, finally having decided not to slap the shit out of me. "About your little…_issue_."

_Oh! So _that's _the secret she was talking about! She wasn't just making shit up. _Then again…she had, in a way, implied that it was a secret I was keeping from Riddle, but obviously he knew about it.

"She seems to think you were…ah, _making it up_ so you could have an excuse to get away," Riddle continued.

"What?" I asked. Why would I make up something like that? "Do you…do you believe her?" Riddle shrugged.

"I don't know."

We were both silent for a moment. I didn't know if I should try to convince him I really was pregnant or just to let it drop. He seemed to be trying to decide if he thought I was or not.

After a moment out of the corner of my eyes I saw him lean forward, on the edge of his seat, and hesitated before he reached his hand out towards my stomach. I cringed but didn't move out of his reach – instead, I allowed him to lift my shirt just slightly and set his hand against my abdomen area. After a few seconds, during which he seemed to be pondering something, he leaned back again.

"Yep," he said. "You're definitely pregnant."

"Thanks, I didn't know," I said dryly. He glowered at me. "I should go or Dumbledore will be worried." 

That was a lie. Dumbledore didn't even know I was coming. But if I could get away from Riddle, it'd be worth it.

"Fine," he muttered. "I will be calling for you to come to the Manor soon, though, trust me."

_Oh, I do_, I thought as I hurried out of the room and toward Dumbledore's office, trying to get as far away from Riddle as fast as I could.


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to everyone for the reviews!**

**I know, it took a little longer than usual, I'm soo sorry! But I had finals, and AP exams, and the ACT, and all that jazz but now school is over and I hope (_hope_) to have quicker updates!**

Chapter 30

"Enter."

I opened the door to Dumbledore's office cautiously after actually having taken the time to knock – for the first time in what felt like ever. I didn't even notice him look up at me, but when I closed the door he said,

"I wondered when I'd be seeing you again Miss Potter." I stood near the door staring at him for a few moments, until he put his quill down and looked up at me through his half-moon glasses. "I assume you came here for a reason aside from staring at me. Have a seat." I slowly walked forward and sat down across from him.

"Did you know that Riddle is going to make an army of students from Hogwarts?" I blurted before I could stop myself.

"Well of course I know," Dumbledore said. "What other reason would he be at Hogwarts all the time, going to classes and actually doing the homework?"

"And you're just going to _let_ that happen?" I said, raising my voice. I didn't want to yell, but I was distressed, and I have a horrible temper, and I just couldn't stop myself.

"Of course I won't, we'll take measures to prevent it –"

"You _can't _prevent it!" I screamed, pulling at the ends of my hair, frustrated. "He _just _told me he was going to threaten them, or their families, or use the Imperious or even _kill _them if they refuse!"

"We can stop it –"

"No we can't! There's _no_ way to stop it!" I yelled. Dumbledore furrowed his eyebrows.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

_No_, I thought. How could I be? Everything that could possibly go wrong in my life had. _Everything_. Except at least Regulus was still alive. I couldn't bear to think of what would happen if he wasn't.

But I had literally just admitted that all to myself – there was no way I could admit it to Dumbledore.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied easily, waving a hand.

"I don't think you are."

"Well…I'm okay, I suppose," I corrected myself. Even that was a lie. Dumbledore looked at me. "I'm just…stressed, confused, worried." He continued to stare at me. "What?" I asked finally.

"You needed to tell me something, correct?" he asked. I nodded slowly. "I'm just waiting for you to tell me." I sighed.

"I just…it's…I…I'm pregnant," I stammered.

Dumbledore stared at me. But not in shock. Not really. He almost looked like he expected it, or like he already knew. But unless somebody else told him, there was no way that he had known.

"Oh yes," he said after a moment. "Sirius told me."

"_What_?" I snapped. "I told him not to tell _anybody_!"

"I suppose I'm not just _anybody_," he said simply. I blinked. I felt bad. How long had he known before I told him? It almost made it seem like I didn't care enough to tell him, as if it didn't bother me at all.

"When did he tell you?"

"Just a few days ago." Dumbledore shrugged. "I understand that you didn't tell me right away, no need to worry, it's not like I'm a close friend or something."

Way to make me feel worse.

"It's not like _I've _ known for that long either," I said, trying to make myself feel better more so than him. He nodded.

"I understand. No hard feelings. But I have to ask…what do you plan on doing about Voldemort?"

"Well, I mean, Riddle already knows," I said. He raised his eyebrows. "I, er, I _accidentally_ let it slip."

"And…?"

"He was pissed," I answered quietly after a moment. "But I just saw him now and he didn't really mention it…Actually," I corrected, "he thought I was lying. Or, Bellatrix did, and he didn't know if he believed me or her."

"Does he believe you now?"

I nodded.

"I think so."

"But what is your plan once you start gaining weight and you still have to go see him?" he asked.

"I…I really haven't thought about it all that much," I replied honestly. "I can figure it out when that time comes. It all just depends on how Riddle reacts to…to everything."

"If you're sure you can handle that, then I guess there's nothing to worry about –"

"I don't!" I exclaimed suddenly, surprising even myself. "I mean, I think I could handle it if I was stuck in that situation and I knew that I _had _to, but…I don't know, I keep getting stuck in situations that I think I can handle and I just…I just _can't_."

"Look, I understand if you're under a lot of stress at the moment and you want –"

"_No!_" I exclaimed. "I'm not going to leave Harry and Draco to deal with him – I'm not going to do that."

"It's the safest option," he said calmly, despite the fact that my voice had rose several notches. "If you want to keep yourself and your baby safe from Riddle, you have to stop going to see Riddle and doing whatever he tells you to."

"But if I leave, I'll be putting Harry and Draco in danger." I shook my head quickly. "I couldn't do that, they're still children."

"You seen to be forgetting that _you're_ still a child too," he pointed out. "In fact, you're younger than them."

"Yeah, but I'm more mature –"

"I beg to differ," he contradicted. I stared at him, not quite understanding what he meant.

"What do you –?"

"As somebody who knows all three of you on a very person level, I beg to differ," he stated plainly. I didn't say anything. "Draco and Harry are so much more mature than you give them credit for. They knew what they were getting into before they did, even before I explained it all to them."

"Okay, well, I know they're very mature, but are you saying _I'm _not?"

"I'm not saying that you're not mature –"

"It kind of sounds like you are," I said matter-of-factly.

"I'm not saying you're _not _mature, I'm merely saying you're not quite as mature as they are."

"What makes you say that? I think I'm very mature, thank you very much," I said, sticking my nose up in the air.

"Not quite," he said, shaking his head slightly. "You still think you're better than everybody else, a very childish move in my opinion. You think very low of everybody else, including your own brother." 

"No I –!"

"You think that without you there he won't be able to protect himself at all," Dumbledore said. "You have trust issues, which is easy to understand, I must admit. You put yourself in danger for useless reasons, almost as if you like it. You –"

"Okay, okay, enough, I get it," I said quickly, cutting him off.

"In other words," he said, ignoring me. "You act just how anybody would expect any sixteen year old to act." I stared at him blankly for a moment.

"But…" I said quietly. "But I can't act just like _any _sixteen year old."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm _not _just any sixteen year old!" I exclaimed. "I wish I was, I do, but I'm not! First off, I'm _engaged _and _pregnant_, something most sixteen year olds are not, and I'm undercover against the darkest wizard of possibly all time!"

"That doesn't mean you have to act any different from normal teenagers."

"But if I don't act a certain way, Riddle will get suspicious and –"

"I don't think you realize that this whole war isn't about _you_," Dumbledore interrupted. I stared at him yet again, unsure what he meant. "While I realize that, yes, you were the one who defeated Voldemort last time, that doesn't mean you have to this time."

"I'm not saying _I'm _going to defeat him," I said suddenly. "I just…I want to help as much as possible. I know him better than anybody else."

"I know you do, but putting yourself into a dangerous situation like the one you are currently forcing yourself into isn't going to help anybody."

I sighed. He had a point. I didn't have to defeat Riddle this time, there were a lot of people who could and would if they had the chance. I shouldn't be so focused on _me_. Maybe Harry and Draco were more mature than I was.

"Let your brother and Draco take care of Voldemort for a little while, alright?" he added quietly after a moment.

"I…" I hesitated. "I'll think about it," I said finally. "But that doesn't mean I'll stop going to see him in the meantime." Dumbledore nodded slowly.

"I figured you'd say that," he said. "Just don't…don't think that nobody's going to help you defeat him, because you have quite a few people backing you up in this war." When I was silent for at least three minutes, he said, "You can go if you'd like." But I shook my head slowly.

"What do you plan on doing about the army of Hogwarts students he plans on making?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I'm not sure," he said. "If what you said is true, that he'll force them, I suppose we'll just have to be sure he's dead before that can happen."

"But sir…he plans on doing that within the next month."

"We'll just have to be quick, then," he said. "Besides, the quicker we get rid of him the better, don't you agree?" I nodded slowly – of course I agreed, how could I not agree? But less than a month to kill him seemed an awful big feat, a nearly insurmountable one.

Dumbledore must've seen my hesitation on my face.

"A lot can change within a month," he said. "You know that as well as I do. A little over a month ago you were more concerned with wedding plans than you were about Death Eaters. A month and a week ago, the Death Eaters had _just_ escaped Azkaban."

That was only a _month _ago? It felt like eternities had passed sense then.

I sighed and shook my head slowly. "I guess you're right…it still seems hard, though. Only a month to kill somebody so crazy and powerful? That's like trying to gain control of Hitler and the Nazis in only one month…only harder…"

Dumbledore was silent for a moment while I rubbed my head. I was starting to get a migraine from all that had happened. It was late, and a long nights rest with no work tomorrow sounded lovely.

Too bad I _did _work the next day. But the day after that was a Saturday and I was off.

"It seems you need to get some rest," Dumbledore said after a moment.

"Tell me about it…" I stood up slowly. "I won't be a stranger anymore, I promise." Dumbledore merely smiled as I headed for the fireplace.

I was so fatigued I expected sleep to come easy that night. But I remained awake, tossing and turning and thinking too much, long after Regulus' breaths had steadied. I just couldn't get my mind off the fact that Riddle would have to be killed within a month.

Dumbledore was loosing it if he thought that could happen.

We would be lucky if we could kill him within a year.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Saturday is supposed to be a day for rest, right? I had expected that, and I had anticipated it for a whole five days previously.

Of _course _it didn't happen.

Riddle had sent me an owl ordering me to meet him at the "usual spot" at noon on Saturday. "Make any excuse to get away that you have to so nobody asks questions," he had written.

Regulus was the only one who asked. I had merely told him the truth.

It was a few minutes after noon. I was sitting in the usual chair, with the usual chains around my wrists – and ankles this time, which surprised me slightly. But what was unusual was that Riddle wasn't there yet. I had arrived at precisely noon and sat down, without thinking about the chains until they had secured.

He didn't enter until a good fifteen minutes later.

"Did you bring it?" he snapped after the door shut behind him. I could already tell he was in a horrible mood. Something had ticked him off– and it was hardly any after noon.

"Nice welcome," I said sarcastically. He had come up from behind me and unexpectedly tilted the chair I was sitting on onto the back left leg and spun it around to face him so suddenly that my hands clamped on the ends of the armrests so tightly they turned white immediately. "What the hell are you doing?" I screamed as he glared down at me.

"Did – you – bring – it?" he asked again, leaning forward to rest his hands on the armrests, his face mere inches from mine. I stuck my nose in the air, refusing to answer if he insisted on being so rude. The act caused my nose to bump against his lightly. He leaned in even closer – so much his nose nearly smashed mine and I had to turn my head so our noses were side by side.

I still refused to answer.

"If you think I'll go easy on you because you're pregnant," he snarled, "then you're sadly mistaken."

"I'm just trying to get you to be _nice_," I said calmly. He wrinkled his nose.

"Don't make me even more angry than I already am."

"Don't make me angry either."

We were at a stalemate. Neither of us would stop. He was in a bad mood. I was pregnant. We were both too stubborn to be the one who had to give in.

Finally, he tilted the chair back on the same leg as before and spun me around again. While I had expected it this time more so than last, that doesn't mean it didn't scare me again. I found my hands clenched on the chair again as he swooped around the chair and sat down on the table directly in front of me.

At first I expected him to say something. I waited while he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, his chin on his hands. His eyes bore straight into mine for several minutes, his face expressionless, until I finally raised my eyebrows and asked, "What?" He licked his lips, shaking his head.

"Just trying to figure out what I'm going to do with you," he muttered. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What do you…what do you mean?" I asked, confused. He shook his head again, a smirk curling onto his lips.

"Nothing," he said, finally leaning back. "Anyways," he said, now seeming to be less angry than before, "did you bring it?"

"If you were smart, you would've just looked at my left hand." His eyes shifted from my eyes down to my left hand, where the fake diamond ring he had already cursed rested on my ring finger. He smiled mischievously as he gently pulled it off my finger.

I waited in silence while he held it up to the light and examined it for several moments, muttering things such as "yes, yes, very good," to himself every now and then.

"Very well," he said finally, putting it down. "Have you figured out what I wanted with this?" he asked. I shrugged.

"I have a few theories." I paused. "But knowing you, it'll probably be something I don't expect."

"What're your theories?" I ran my tongue over my teeth, hesitating while I thought.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I'm not going to tell you." I knew I was pushing it – though he wasn't _quite _as angry as before, he was still angry. And the look in his eyes said he was getting angrier again.

"Fine," he snapped, shoving the ring onto his little finger – the only finger it would fit on – and leaning toward me again. "I just won't tell you what I plan on doing with it. You don't need to know." I swallowed – I really did need to know. Or wanted to so bad that it felt like I needed to know.

"You're going to use it as a Horcrux, aren't you?" I asked quietly. Riddle smirked again, leaning even closer to me.

"Perhaps," he said. I took that as a yes.

"When?" I asked, my voice slightly hoarse.

"Well, I was going to today, but _somebody _didn't get me the victim I was going to use to make it, so it's being put off for the time being." He paused. "Trust me, you'll know when I make it because you'll be here." My eyes widened. "Not like that! I'm not going to use _you _to make it! But I will have you here."

"Are you only making the one?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't get too suspicious at my questions. I asked a lot of questions a lot of the time, so hopefully he would just be used to it.

"No, now that you mention it, I want to make the seven again. First the ring, then the sword of Gryffindor – you'll bring it next time you come, as well – and then that old snake I had last time. I already have her, she's caged and just…waiting."

As far as I could tell, he didn't think anything of my questions.

"Is that all you wanted, then?" I asked after a moment.

"How's the baby?" he asked, not answering my question.

"Good…"

"Do you know if it's a boy or girl yet?"

"I'm two months pregnant," I pointed out. He blinked, and I rolled my eyes. "_No_, you find out at four or five months." He nodded.

"And how's the old man?" I stared.

"James?" I asked. He nodded again, and I shrugged. "Alright, I suppose, why?"

"No reason," he said. I didn't believe him.

"Why?" I repeated.

"Oh, it's just that he was the one I was going to use to make the Horcrux with."


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to everyone for the reviews!**

**I know, I know, this has taken a while for me to get up. I'm soo sorry! I've been out of town a lot and I just haven't had a lot of time! I really am sorry! :(**

Chapter 31

At first I was speechless. I could only stare at Riddle, dumbfounded, this strange and quiet noise of bewilderment escaping my open mouth. I started breathing quickly, feeling on the verge of hyperventilation. The pit of my stomach seemed to have dropped right out of my body, and my head was starting to throb.

"No, no, no," I said quickly, shaking my head and laughing lightly. _No, he's not serious. He's joking, he has to be joking. _"You're joking, I know you're joking." He blinked.

He wasn't joking.

"No!" I cried, flailing and trying desperately to get out of that stupid chair. Of course I failed. "No, you – you can't, you _won't_!"

"And why wouldn't I? You know I don't really –"

"Because I won't let you!" I yelled, pulling at my restraints again. I don't know why I expected them to open.

"And how're you going to stop me?" he asked curiously, leaning back slightly.

"I-I don't know!" I exclaimed. "But I'll stop you even if it's the last thing I do! I've already lost my father once; I am _not _loosing him again!" Riddle smiled slightly, as if he was enjoying seeing me tempted to murder him then and there.

"Well that's too bad then." My grimace turned to a frown, and I stopped struggling, becoming still and staring at him immediately.

"What do you mean?" I asked quietly. "_What do you mean?_" I repeated, screaming it, when he said nothing. He couldn't mean he already had James – he had just said that somebody hadn't gotten him his victim; besides, James had gone into work that morning, I had seen him.

Riddle stood up and spun my chair around in the same fashion he had several times already so I was facing the door when it burst open and two Death Eaters I didn't take the time to look at drug in – my breath caught in my throat – James.

His head was hung low in a final defeat, his hair falling in his eyes. He had to be injured, and badly; I knew he wouldn't just give up and let them take him. The Death Eaters let go of him, stepping to the side, and he fell onto his hands and knees, not even bothering to look up in my direction.

If I thought my stomach had dropped before, that was nothing compared to how it felt now. I felt like I could hurl everywhere any second.

"_NO!_" I screamed at the top of my lungs when I finally caught my breath. James looked up sharply at the sound of my voice, his eyes wide with fear. His glasses had been broken at an odd angle; there were scratches and bruises covering his face – covering most of his visible skin, now that I looked closely – and his clothes were ripped and torn in several places.

"Nick!" he exclaimed, his voice low and hoarse. His eyes drifted to Riddle, who was still behind me. "Look, I'm in no position to threaten you, but please don't hurt her, okay?" He paused. "Or I'll kill you," he added, as if asking a question. Riddle set his hand on my shoulder, making me jump. I knew he was just taunting James.

"I wasn't planning on hurting _her_," he said. James' eyes drifted to mine again, the familiar hazel burning into my skull. I knew that he knew what that meant. I knew it scared him, I could see it in his eyes, but he was still holding his head proudly and bravely. Just like the James I knew.

"No, don't…please don't…" I muttered so only Riddle could hear me. "I'm begging you, please…" He ignored me and simply waved his wand. To my surprise, the chains around my wrists and ankles disappeared and I fell forward, crawling to James and throwing my arms around him. He held me close, rubbing my back gently.

"It's going to be okay, Nick," he whispered. He leaned back and took my face in his hands, wiping away the tears that I hadn't realized had fallen. "Please don't wallow over it, okay? I'll be in a better place, and I don't want you to spend the rest of your life worrying about me and blaming yourself because there's nothing you can do."

I shook my head, trying to tell him it would be okay, I wouldn't let him die, but he kept talking.

"Just promise me something?" he asked. I nodded slowly. "When you get back, be sure to remind your mom how much I love her. And tell Harry that he's the man of the house now, alright?" I nodded again, more tears falling over my cheeks. He kissed my forehead. "I love you," he whispered. "You take care of my little grandbaby, okay?" I nodded.

"I love you too," I replied. But I had turned my gaze to Riddle, who was staring at me. I half expected him to be sneering or smirking at us, but instead his expression was almost…contemplative. I frowned. "You told me you didn't have him!" I accused.

"What are you talking about?" James asked, looking from me to Riddle and then back to me. Riddle rose his eyebrows.

"I told you that somebody," he glared at one of the Death Eaters, "didn't get me the victim I wanted so it was being put off _for the time being_."

"Exactly!" I exclaimed.

"Well first off, the original victim I wanted was Sirius Black, so that's not a lie. And being put off – well, it was supposed to happen right at noon, when you first got here, and it is now –" he checked his watch "– half past."

I wasn't upset anymore. Now I was pissed, and I knew Riddle could see it, because his eyes widened slightly.

He knew that he could easily overpower an upset Nicole Potter, but _not _an angry one.

"You think you're clever," I muttered angrily. "But you're not. You're _not_!" Riddle turned to face the window behind him and started to laugh. I used the time to glance up at the two Death Eaters by us. They were watching Riddle. I seized the opportunity and used my wandless magic to call James' wand back while I inconspicuously pulled mine out of my pocket.

"– so, I took the next best one," Riddle continued as if he thought I was listening to him. But I was looking over my shoulder, waiting for James' wand to come flying at me. When it did, I reached up and caught it effortlessly.

Of course, Riddle turned around at that exact moment and noticed me pulling my hand down. His eyes flashed dangerously as he practically ran forward, grabbed my elbows, and yanked both of my arms to the front.

But before he could pull them forward, I let go of both of the wands and they went rolling behind me. When my hands were empty, he glared at me only to notice James diving behind me to grab the wands, jumping to his feet and holding out one in each hand when he grabbed them.

I thought that would be it, he was a good dueler and if I stood up and took my wand we could overpower them, but naturally I was wrong.

Riddle grabbed my arm again and yanked me to my feet, pressing his wand against my neck and his free arm around my waist to keep me against him. I wasn't scared, but James looked almost terrified.

"Drop the wands or watch as I slit your only daughter's throat," Riddle warned. James, unsure what to do, lowered the wands slightly, but didn't drop them. Riddle flicked his wand, and what felt like a knife flicked across my left cheek. Blood dripped down my cheek.

James lowered the wands even more, but I shook my head.

"Don't you dare do it," I muttered. I don't know if it was because of James or me, but Riddle flicked his wand again and another, deeper gash flicked into my upper right thigh. It hurt, and I gasped quietly, but refused to show any other sign of the pain. I suddenly found all my weight pressed against Riddle's arm around my waist.

The wands slipped out of James' hand and clattered to the floor. One of the Death Eaters grabbed them almost as soon as they hit. I could just imagine Riddle's smirk as he dropped his arm from around my waist.

The sudden pain in my leg caused me to fall forward, but just when I thought I was going to land on my hands or my face, strong hands found themselves under my armpits, holding me up. When I looked up, I saw that James had rushed forward and stopped me, pulling me lightly by the arm away from Riddle as soon as I had regained my balance.

Riddle was laughing in a manner that nearly seemed hysterical.

"You think you can overpower me?" he asked after a moment, turning to face us. "You're extremely wrong." He lifted his wand. "Move, _Sawyer_." I shook my head, moving to where I was in front of James. Riddle sighed, rolling his eyes. "Just move or I'll force you to."

"Over my dead body," I snarled, knowing he wouldn't kill me. He shrugged. 

"Suit yourself."

His lips formed the words I hadn't expected, but before he could James shoved me roughly out of the way. I fell, hard, and could only watch, sitting on the floor in a helpless heap, as he formed the words I hated, waiting for the light.

Just as the room should've exploded in green light, the masked Death Eater beside me was thrown against the wall and fell down, unconscious. I stared, confused, looking around for the source but finding nothing out of the ordinary.

Riddle didn't notice, his wand rearing back, preparing for the spell. But suddenly, his body seemed to lift off of the ground as he too was thrown back, smashing into the table and chair behind him, pushing them back until gravity pulled his unconscious body to the ground. I screamed, and James let out a yell of shock.

After a few moments, I slowly turned my head toward James.

"Did you do that?" I asked. He shook his head.

"I can't do wandless magic, so I thought you did!"

But then a sudden movement behind him caught my eye. The Death Eater left standing moved around James to look at Riddle. I noticed his wand was out, pointing at him, and he kicked him lightly as if to see if he would move. He didn't.

"_You_ did that!" I exclaimed after a moment of shock. He ignored me. "Who _are_ you?" I asked. He turned around, facing us, his wand lifted, but instead of cursing us reached back and pulled down his hood.

We were both silent for a moment, shocked and trying to figure out what was going on, before we suddenly regained our ability to speak.

"Sirius!" James exclaimed.

"What the hell?" I asked. "How did you get here?" Sirius held out his hand to me. I took it gratefully and he pulled me to my feet.

"Long story," he said, kneeling down to look at my thigh. "Shit, I don't know any healing charms, we'll have to wait –"

"What the hell is going on?" James asked. "We're not leaving until you tell us!"

"Shh!" Sirius and I both said.

"They'll hear you," I whispered. James rolled his eyes, but rose his eyebrows at Sirius as if still expecting him to answer him.

"You know how he said he didn't get me here? Well, that's a lie. He did. But I overpowered the Death Eaters holding me captive –"

"How?"

"Well, Death Eaters may be good duelers but they're not good at hand-to-hand combat," he said. "There were only two, all I had to do was knock their wands out of their hands to get them easy to overpower, knocking them out and stealing one of their robes so I could get out. But I was on my way out when I saw you –" he pointed to me "– coming here and when I followed you suddenly that other guy appeared with James, so I had to play my part until I got here and waited to make my move."

"You punched me," James said after a moment, flabbergasted. "And you let him nearly kill Nicki!"

"Shh!" Sirius whispered again, looking toward the door apprehensively. "I know, I know, I shouldn't've done those things but I was waiting for the perfect moment to knock him out and then he almost killed you and I froze and –"

"Okay, calm down Sirius," I said. "It's fine, I'm going to be fine, Dad's going to be fine, we just need to get out of here before they wake up."

"Here," he said, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out two wands, handing one to each of us. "I had to make sure the other dude didn't take them before I could or we'd have even more of a problem getting out of here."

"Speaking of which, don't you think we should? Get out of here, that is?" I pointed out. The two looked at me, then at each other, and back to me before nodding simultaneously.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," James said. "Let's just Apparate to Grimmauld Place right?"

"Can't," I answered. "They have spells against that here." I paused. "Sirius, what are you doing?" I asked when I saw him pulling his hood back up.

"We need to make it look like we're not…out of place, I suppose."

"How?" James asked. Sirius shrugged, moving the hood to cover his face.

"Don't ask me, ask your daughter, she's the one who's always here." They both turned to me. I blinked.

"Thanks for volunteering me, Sirius," I muttered. I didn't really want to make up the plan – wasn't Sirius Head Auror anyways? – but I figured I _did _know this place better than they did. "Okay, Sirius, you're going to have to pretend like you're dragging Dad along behind you, like you're taking him to the dungeons or something. Dad, act injured, fight him but let him."

"And you?" James asked, raising his eyebrows. I bit my lower lip.

"I'll follow a couple feet back – it's a common occurrence that I'm here, they won't say anything to me."

"No," James said automatically. "How can I be sure you'll follow and not stay behind to…deal with Voldemort or something?"

"Besides," Sirius said. "I don't know my way around here. You lead." He grabbed my shoulder and pushed me forward, toward the door, roughly. I stumbled forward, pain shooting up my right leg. But I grit my teeth and turned back to glare at him.

"You better follow me, and if you don't, I swear to Merlin –"

"We'll follow you ten or so feet back, now go!" James muttered. I grimaced before I did as I had been told, closing the door partially behind me.

The hall was silent, which was odd. But I shrugged it off and started for the exit, limping slightly, my leg stinging. Blood from my cheek ran into my mouth, and I used my hand to wipe it away, staining my fingers and palm red as it dripped to the floor with the rest of the blood that was pouring down my leg, leaving a trail of where I was going.

At least it would be easy for Sirius and James to follow me.

As well as anybody else if they so pleased.

The stairs creaked beneath my feet as I limped up them, holding the railing to try to keep from stumbling back down the stairs, which I felt likely to do at any second.

Somehow I made it up the stairs, glancing back down the stairs before I moved on. Sirius and James were too far behind to see, hidden behind the ceiling and some corners. I was bleeding only a little less now, but there was still a trail behind me.

As I rounded the next corner, I noticed a few masked Death Eaters marching down the hall. I knew they had seen me, there was no way they hadn't, and it was too late for me to duck back around the corner and hide from them.

So I kept walking as if there was nothing wrong, nothing out of the ordinary for them to care about. The first two glanced at me as I passed but didn't say anything, but the last one stopped right in front of me so abruptly I ran right into their chest.

"Watch it!" I snapped, shaking my head. "Gosh –!"

Before I could finish, the Death Eater reached forward and suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders, shoving me sideways and against the wall so roughly the back of my head felt as if it had split in two. I grunted, my head throbbing.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed.

"I heard about what happened," he said forcefully, shaking my shoulders lightly. I didn't recognize his low and gruff voice.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, pretending to be confused even though I was pretty sure I knew the answer.

"You know what I'm talking about," he replied, annoyed. "You knocked out the Dark Lord and are helping the prisoners escape. Where are they?"

"What prisoners?" I asked, trying to sound irritated. I could just imagine the Death Eater rolling his eyes at me, annoyed.

"I know what you're doing –"

Down the hall, where I had just come from, I heard a shout and an explosion in the distance. I knew James and Sirius were down there, and when I heard more shouts and saw flashing lights, I knew they could use all the help they could get.

So while the Death Eater holding my shoulders was distracted by looking down toward the shouts, I pulled my wand out of my pocket and pointed it at the Death Eaters chest.

"_Stupefy_," I said. He barely had time to turn back to me in shock when he was thrown backwards off of me and hit the other wall. I didn't even look at him before I took off running down the hall, rounded the corner, and –

Ran right into someone who had been running my way and fell backwards, my wand rolling out of my hand. I scrambled to grab it again, turning it on who I had run into.

"Draco!" I exclaimed, shocked. He was dressed in his Death Eater robes, but his hood had fallen off. When I ran into him, he must've fallen over as well, but he was already on his feet. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to my feet.

"You have to get out of here," he said. I saw James and Sirius down the hall, running toward us. I noticed Sirius' mask had fallen off as well. "They know you've escaped –!"

"Oh really?" Sirius asked sarcastically, having caught up with us. "I didn't notice that when they started shooting the Killing Curse at us!"

"You need to hurry," Draco muttered, ignoring Sirius' comment. "Black and I should put our hoods up and pretend to pull you two along, maybe they won't realize until we can curse them." He and Sirius pulled their hoods up quickly. Draco grabbed my arm lightly while Sirius did the same to James.

When Draco's hand pulled me around to face the way we had to go, I gasped.

At least a dozen Death Eaters were coming our way, wands drawn, already shooting curses at us. I spun around, wondering if we could hurry the other way, to see a few Death Eaters coming our way from there.

"Draco," I muttered, taking my arm out of his grasp. "They might find out there's a spy if you do this."

"I don't care," he murmured. "I can't let you guys get hurt just because –"

But he didn't get to finish his sentence, because a nasty looking curse had flown at him from his right. He noticed it out of the corner of his eye at the last moment, turning toward it to block it, but he was too late.

I screamed as it hit Draco square in the chest. He flew backward through the air, landing with a thud against the wall, where he slid down to the ground and lay completely still.


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.**

**A/N: Thanks to everyone for the reviews!**

**Okay, okay, I know, it's been awhile again, BUT my sister had a baby so I've been a bit preoccupied. I'm sorreyyyy:( **

**If it makes it any better, I started this chapter this morning and am already finished writing _and _revising it, and I got it posted. So that's an improvement!**

Chapter 31

_I screamed as it hit Draco square in the chest. He flew backward through the air, landing with a thud against the wall, where he slid down to the ground and lay completely still._

I stood frozen, rooted to the spot, unable to think correctly, unable to process anything at all.

I didn't realize how many Death Eaters now surrounded James and Sirius and I. I didn't realize that they were trying to duel their way out, that several killing curses zoomed so close to both of them that they missed death by millimeters. I didn't realize that the Death Eaters, still dueling, parted slightly so somebody else could walk through.

I didn't realize, that is, until I felt somebody tugging on my arm roughly and looked up to see Riddle's angry face staring down at me.

"Come with me," he ordered, his voice low and demanding. I looked back to James and Sirius, slowly starting to fall to the Death Eaters, and then to Draco, lying on the floor and noticed he was still breathing, his mask still plastered firmly on his face – if he could get up and move into the crowd without them noticing, he could still avoid detection.

I couldn't just go with Riddle without a fight.

But I couldn't _not _go or he would be smart enough to figure out that Draco's a spy, that he's the one lying on the floor beside me.

"No."

I said it before I could stop myself. It burst out of my mouth like a bullet from a gun. Riddle rose his eyebrows, but I was still furious and yanked my arm out of his grasp, drawing my wand on him.

"No," I repeated, more forcefully this time, shaking my head. "I'm tired of taking your orders. I won't have any more of it." Riddle was still staring at me, not even bothering to take out his wand, while Sirius fell to the Cruciatus Curse beside me. I flicked my wand at the Death Eater cursing him, and they fell to the ground unconscious. Riddle did nothing about it.

"I'm getting tired of your mouth," he snapped, grabbing my arm again. "Now – come – with – me." He pulled me after him, but before we had gotten very far, just past the last Death Eaters, I pulled all my magic strength together (which hurt mentally and physically because of being weakened by the gash in my leg) and threw him across the room, knocking him out against the far wall before putting an imombulus charm on him so even if he did wake up, he wouldn't be able to move.

Let's just hope he never found out it was me and thought it was just a stray spell that hit him. Otherwise he would realize the potion either wasn't working or Draco wasn't giving it to me.

Maybe I could just convince him it wasn't working, that Rosier screwed it up or something…

It'd be a cheap shot, but it might work if I had to.

"Nick! A little help would be nice!" James yelled after a moment. I spun around and saw how only three of the dozen Death Eaters had fallen victim to him or Sirius or stray spells flying around. I looked to Draco and saw a few Death Eaters moving around Sirius toward him.

"Oh, no you don't," I muttered, throwing myself through the crowd of Death Eaters next to me toward Draco. "Not on my watch." Just as they reached him and started to move his hood back, I pointed my wand at the nearest one and screamed,

"_Stupefy!_"

The Death Eater had barely had time to look up before he was thrown backward, right into one of the others going toward Draco. The last one stood up, pointing their wand at me, getting ready to curse me, but one of the Death Eaters fighting Sirius and James turned and, out of nowhere, jinxed him.

I stared at the Death Eater who had come to my aid. He – by the size of him, it seemed very unlikely that it was a she – had gone right back to dueling James and Sirius. But he obviously wasn't dueling as well as I knew all Death Eaters could.

"Nick! Help?" Sirius asked, getting irritated.

"Right, yeah!" I said quickly, throwing myself into the battle in all force, dodging spells and curses and jinxing anything that moved and wasn't Sirius or James. But I kept my eyes on that one Death Eater who seemed to be on our side.

It was when I threw a jinx at him and he ducked it that I recognized the way he dove forward – Harry.

I smiled to myself as I went for the Death Eater beside him – even when he wasn't supposed to be here, he was always there for me. Whenever I needed him, I could trust Harry to be there.

I've doubted that before. I don't know why I ever did.

And that's when the two of us started to work as a team to slowly get all the Death Eaters down – he would jinx them while they were distracted by me. James and Sirius noticed our tactic, and even though they seemed confused as to who was helping me, they decided to try it too.

Soon, between the four of us, we only had two Death Eaters left. When Sirius and James took down theirs, the one Harry and I were going for got scared and started to run away. Being the merciless brat I am, I cursed them as they ran.

I turned back to find Sirius and James pointing their wand at Harry, who held his hands up in surrender.

"Tell us who you are, and don't move, or else –"

"Or else _what_, you'll curse your own Godson?" I interrupted Sirius. He and James looked from Harry to me, before Sirius growled,

"Take off your hood!"

"Is that really necessary?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "Look, we need to get out of here, and quickly, because it looks like Draco might need some serious medical help." Sirius and James glanced down at Draco, who was still lying in an unmoving heap.

"Yeah, good idea," they said. Sirius must've found it so severe that he didn't even make a joke on the "Sirius" vs. "serious" pun. James flicked his wand so Draco was floating between Sirius and I, and Harry said,

"Come on, I know the easiest way out." I started limping after him, my leg hurting worse than ever now, knowing the general area that he was headed, but I kept looking behind me to be sure that Sirius, Draco, and James were still there.

After about five minutes Harry pulled open a door and led us into the fresh air. It was raining – storming, actually. Rain poured down on us, drenching us all within seconds, causing even more blood to run down my leg, and lightning shinned and thunder clashed almost constantly. I waved my wand, and an invisible rain-repellant bubble formed around the five of us.

We walked about a hundred feet from the manor in the rain before Harry came to a stop, turning to face us and pulling his hood down finally.

"You can Disapparate now," he said. "I'm going to come too, I wasn't even supposed to be there tonight but I heard about something happening to Dad and I decided to make sure everything was okay. You should probably take Draco to the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts as soon as possible, that was a dark curse that hit him."

James nodded before he grabbed Draco's wrist.

"I'll drop him off there. Nick, I'll tell you what Madam Pomfrey has to say when I see you okay? You just get home and…and rest for a while," he said. I wondered if he had forgotten about my leg, because I knew I was headed to the same place he was taking Draco. He Disapperated without a word about it.

Sirius glanced from Harry to I, muttered, "I'm going to go straight to Grimmauld place. See ya guys," and left Harry and I alone together.

Sirius had only just been gone for a second when I threw my arms around Harry's neck, pulling him tight against me.

"Thank you," I whispered to him. He rubbed my back in gentle circles soothingly. "I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't been there." I paused. "I love you."

"Well you better!" he joked. I leaned back to look up at him and rolled my eyes. He kissed my forehead before he said his real voice, "I love you too." He paused. "Now let me see your leg, so I can see if we need to take you to Madam Pomfrey too."

"I'm fine," I lied as he leaned down to look at it. Blood still dripped down it into a small pool on the ground.

"I don't think you're fine," he said. "You need to go to the Hospital Wing. Come on, I'll Side-Along you." He gripped my hand tightly in his and spun on the spot until we were standing in Grimmauld Place, in the empty Drawing Room by the fireplace.

"I thought we were going to Hogwarts," I said, confused.

"It's easier to Apparate here and then Floo too Dumbledore's office rather than take one of the secret passageways into the school. Especially with that leg of yours. Come on, you go first." He pushed me into the fireplace and I quickly Flooed out.

When I slid into Dumbledore's office, a burning sensation ran up my thigh and I grit my teeth, letting out a sharp cry of pain before grabbing my leg with my hands, drenching them in blood. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk when I came in, and was only just reaching me when Harry came flying into his office too.

"Nicole, what happened to you?" Dumbledore asked as Harry stood up, rushing over to me.

"What?" Harry asked, kneeling beside me.

"I don't…I don't think Flooing was the…the best idea," I said, still gritting my teeth together to keep from crying out in pain again.

"Can you walk?" he asked. I shook my head – without even trying, I knew I wouldn't be able to. It hurt so bad just sitting down, I knew I wouldn't be able to stand let alone walk. Harry frowned. "Okay, I'm just going to carry you."

"But –"

"It's not like you weigh anything anyways," he said, slipping one of his arms behind my back and the other behind my knees before lifting me up gently. I wrapped my arms around his neck, putting my face into his shoulder as he carried me away, leaving Dumbledore behind us, bewildered.

Because there were staring students in the halls, Harry told me to put a Disillusionment charm over the two of us. I saw Johnny Longbottom on the way down, and couldn't help but notice that he _wasn't _with Riddle – which I suppose he couldn't be, as Riddle was stuck in Malfoy Manor.

At least for now.

As soon as Harry and I were in the Hospital Wing I removed the charm and he set me down on the bed directly beside Draco, who Madam Pomfrey was fussing over. He was still out cold, but he seemed to be breathing better. When she caught sight of me and the red blood from my leg that was now staining her clean, white bed sheets, she gasped.

"What happened to you?" she asked, bustling toward me and examining it.

"Voldemort," Harry answered sourly. Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips.

"Who else?" she muttered before drawing her wand and pointing it at my leg, muttering a few spells. It stopped bleeding, but it still hurt. "I'm going to make you a potion to drink to help with the pain and another one for the blood-loss, but you're going to need to stay the night."

"How's Draco?" I asked.

"Mr. Malfoy has a lot of internal damage, and he'll probably be here or just taking it easy for a while, but he'll survive."

"Thank God," I muttered.

"See? He'll be fine," Harry replied, sitting on the edge of the bed and running his fingers through my hair.

"Thanks for 'just happening' to be there today," I said, even though I had said thanks already. I couldn't express how much it really meant to me that he was there. "I don't know what I'd _ever _do without you."

"Well you don't ever have to worry about that," he whispered, still playing with my hair. "I'll always be there. Always. I promise." I nodded slowly.

"I know," I replied. He leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek before he stood up quickly.

"I'm going to go find Regulus, tell him what happened and what's going on, alright?" I smiled at him as Madam Pomfrey handed me two potions and told me that they would probably make me fall asleep as well.

"Thank you, Harry." He smiled, nodding, before he left the room.

I feel asleep mere seconds later.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I woke up around eight the next morning. Surprised at how long I had slept, I rolled over and found my eyes meeting the familiar grey ones that belonged to Draco Malfoy.

"Draco!" I exclaimed, sitting up suddenly. He smirked at me. He was sitting up in his bed, reading a book lazily. He looked tired, but otherwise uninjured. "How're you feeling?"

"Fine, thanks to Madam Pomfrey," he replied. "A few minor bruises, and apparently my lungs aren't going to be back to their full capacity for a while – not going to lie, just getting up to use the loo makes me feel like I'm going to pass out." I flinched slightly. "Heard you got cut up pretty bad," he added. I nodded slowly.

"Yeah, Riddle got me, but I'm fine," I said. He rose his eyebrows.

"You haven't even checked it yet," he pointed out. Rolling my eyes, I pulled the sheets back and revealed my almost completely healed thigh.

"See?" I asked.

"That looks like it's going to scar," he said, making a face. I shrugged.

"Not like I don't already have a ton of them. One more can't hurt." I paused. "Hey, thanks for trying to help us get out –"

"That's kind of my job, as spy," he pointed out. I rolled my eyes again.

"You know what I mean," I said. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop them from hitting you –"

"It's not your fault," he interrupted, sounding more confused than anything.

"I should've stopped them, blocked it or something –"

"I doubt it," he scolded.

"I –"

"Come on, stop. You can't always blame yourself for things you couldn't have prevented, okay? I got hurt, so what? People get hurt all the time. If it weren't for you, so I hear from Harry, I would've been caught and would be in much worse shape than this anyways. So if you have to blame yourself for anything, blame yourself for keeping me alive." I blinked, and the corners of my lips turned up slightly on their own.

"You're not the first person to tell me something like that."

"Good, because it's all true, and the more people that tell you, the more likely you are to accept that you can't always help everybody," he retorted. I sighed.

"I just –"

But before I could finish, the doors to the Hospital Wing were thrown open with a _bang! _and Sirius came bounding in, flanked by Regulus and Severus. Draco and I looked up sharply, turning our attention to them rather than each other. Regulus looked about ready to come over to my side but Sirius came to a stop at the foot of our beds and started talking before he could even so much as look my way.

"Dumbledore needs you two."

"For what?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. Dumbledore knew we were injured, he must – why would he call us out of the Hospital?

"Mr. Black, I don't know why you think it's okay to come bothering my patients but–!" Madam Pomfrey admonished. Sirius held up his hand to silence her and she frowned.

"Dumbledore sent us."

"Why are we needed?" Draco repeated.

"They're not leaving –!"

"Madam Pomfrey, this is very important, the whole war could depend on this one thing, I'm sure they'll be fine to leave for a few hours," Severus interjected. Madam Pomfrey glared at him.

"We won't do anything to hurt them, and we'll send them right back," Regulus added. She sighed.

"Fine," she conceded. "I'll give you three hours – that's it! Miss Potter should be fine away but Mr. Malfoy needs all the rest he can get."

"What's going on?" I demanded, getting annoyed.

"An Order meeting. It seems Voldemort is planning on making his move soon."


End file.
